


love's all a game to [her, him, them]

by Signel_chan



Series: something about [love, adventure, drama] [1]
Category: Total Drama
Genre: Babies, F/M, Friendship, Manipulation, Romance, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 03:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 92,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2051715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signel_chan/pseuds/Signel_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Distance makes the heart grow fonder, or more distrusting, or some combination of the two. Unresolved romance and tension runs high between Heather and Alejandro, but reality show romances were never meant to last. Does the old adage hold true, about loving someone and letting them go? Or does love mean nothing more than a game to them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings are for Airplanes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Heather's experience, everything that has involved one Alejandro Burromuerto has two things in common. One of those is that the romance (or whatever it should be referred to) starts on planes. And she wishes that wasn't the case.

The finale to season five had been absolutely fantastic, with the freedom to kiss and be outright adorable on television for everyone, especially the haters, to see. Since there had been lots of time to cuddle and make out while waiting for the season to end, it was actually a bit hard for Heather and Alejandro to keep their hands off of each other any more than they had to when the finale rolled around, but being able to show off their real relationship (after two seasons of them competing and denying it) was definitely worth it.

If only Heather had known that by the end of the first month after the season stopped things would have been completely different, then maybe she wouldn't have focused so much on making sure there was at least one televised kiss. Her and Alejandro seemed like the perfect pair, two masterminds who were cunning and attractive, and since they had become so happy to be with each other during their time on the show, no matter how hard she had tried to deny it, it was worth a shot to make it last. While everyone else was hesitant on keeping friendships after the cameras stopped rolling, they were making plans on what to do with their future together.

They weren't even twenty years old, far too young to be planning the rest of their lives, yet there they were, getting into intricate detail about everything they would journey through together. The hours and days they spent arm-in-arm, kissing at every chance they got, felt like minutes to her, and she figured that he felt the same way. He was as interested in their plans as she was, that charming smile on his lips whenever her mouth wasn't, and he was always the first to come up with the next big idea for what they should do with their lives.

She should have known that something was amiss when he started giving her the reigns on the plans, which had gone from ambitious to more realistic over the course of a few weeks, but she brushed all worries aside and marked them as him just coming into being a gentleman. But when he stopped giving any input at all and actually began to pull away from her planning, the worries began to come back with full force. When she confronted him about it, he soothed her with a tender kiss and a reminder that she was his one true love and that he would never leave her side, not for anything.

A week later he was packing his bags and heading out into the world, having decided that leaving her was for the best. “My apologies, _mi amor_ , but it is simply what I must do,” he said as he was getting everything he had collected over the last month and putting it in a suitcase. “You would do the same if you were in my situation.”

“Your situation? What situation is that?” Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was glaring at him, blocking his only exit from the bedroom they'd been sharing ever since All-Stars had ended. “The one you willingly got yourself into?”

“There was nothing willing about my involvement with you. You simply ensnared me with your beauty and I have to escape before things actually happen between us. You understand, don't you?” He looked from his bags to her, his eyes shining with the charm they always had when he was trying to do something cunning. “It is for the best.”

“The best? Uh, hello, I'm pretty sure the best is right here!” She motioned to herself, making sure to point directly at her chest and hips at least three times. “You unpack that stuff right now, Alejandro, or I will do it for you. And that's a promise.”

“Again, my apologies, but my hands are tied.” He carefully pushed her aside, against all her resisting, and he and his belongings left the room and walked out of his life, something he had promised he wouldn't do as well as something she had hoped would not happen.

It was a month after All Stars had ended, and Heather was back to being as alone as she had been for all of her life up until the show had started. It was as if their entire relationship had been nothing more than a game to Alejandro, even though it had been so much more to her. She collapsed onto the floor, not crying out of misery but out of anger, her face reddening with every passing second.

She wasn't going to chase him down, but if she ever met that sneaky Spaniard again, she was going to make sure he paid for giving her a fleeting chance at a relationship.

* * *

_And for the next few years, she was bitter and vengeful, allowing love to become just as much a game to her as it was to him._

* * *

Some of the greatest things in life found their beginnings in an airplane. Not for many people, but for one former reality television star who always had, always did, and always would go by the name of Heather, the greatest moments of her life happened because of the events that took place on some run-down airplane flying around the world. It was on that plane that she made her trek to very nearly winning a million dollars, and it was on that very same plane that she had her denial and slow revelation that she had feelings of a romantic variety for one of her fellow competitors.

The grimace on her face as she thought about that second fact explained her entire mindset on the situation in hindsight: while he had been cunning and attractive, especially after they both came to their senses about their feelings, there was not a bit of good that existed inside of one Alejandro Burromuerto, and that was that. He had reeled her in, made her feel wanted like no one else in her life ever had, and then walked out like there had been nothing between them, like there had been no shared kisses or anything. No one had ever played her like that, until he came along.

Hindsight was a funny thing to have, and while it was always fun to look back on past events and realize what could have been done differently, there wasn't a single thing that Heather wanted to change about that entire situation. Especially when it came down to what had transpired between her and that seductive scoundrel who had played her just as hard as they both had played the game.

She tapped her fingers on the armrest of the seat she was in, one of just a few people scattered around the seating area of the small plane making a trip that was seldom wanted or needed. One of the perks of having an oft-recognized face was being able to convince people to give her special attention, and whenever she needed a flight somewhere, she was sure to bat her eyelashes and demand the quietest plane possible. This meant that she was surrounded by other people with the same demands as herself, and while they all could have easily talked for the entire flight, she tended to stay silent and pensive.

Her normal trip thoughts didn't rest on that smooth-talking Spanish man who had played with her heart, however. They normally lingered on the show, or on how her life had been in the years following it, but never on the one part of the experience that she had actually enjoyed. In fact, admitting to herself that she had so much as liked anything that Alejandro had done or said to her was something that she tried not to do. Dwelling on him had gotten many girls in trouble, and she most certainly did not want to be anything like any of them.

Someone bumping into her arm broke her from her thoughts, and her first reaction was to look up to see who it was, while starting to tell them off for so much as touching her. She hadn't even started her sentence when she realized who was standing right next to her, a hand moving into position on top of hers. Her eyes narrowed, lips straightened and thinned, and she had a wave of anger and mixed emotions come over her. What did one say to someone who they had never intended on seeing again?

“Oh, why hello there, Heather.” His voice stopped her from saying whatever she had decided on greeting him with. It was as purposeful as it had always been, a natural and broken order to the words, and it angered her more than seeing him had. “It certainly has been a while since we last saw each other, has it not?”

The only words Heather could manage in response were simple: “Back off, Alejandro.” She couldn't find it in herself to curse at him, because there was somewhere deep inside of her that still felt immensely for he who stood beside her. Yet she also couldn't find it inside herself to accept him back with no questions asked, as they hadn't seen each other since he had decided to walk away from her after their last season together. What she said was what she thought, and apparently what she thought was that him walking away again would miraculously make everything between them better.

As evidenced by him putting his other hand under her chin to tilt her head so she could look him in the eyes, Alejandro knew that she was feeling conflicting things. “I told you, _mi amor_ , I had reasons to leave. Do not hate me because of that. I know you still feel for me.”

“No, what I feel is you touching me. Stop that and back off.”

He smiled, leaning closer to her while still forcing her into eye contact. “I cannot do that. There is so much that has been missed between us that I feel complying with your demands would only ruin our chance to fix things.” Every word was punctuated with lust, something that she knew he was only doing to try and convince her to do something she'd regret. It was a tactic she had mentally guarded herself against, yet even her mind's strongest defenses were weak to how he spoke, especially while she was staring (albeit a forced stare) into his brilliantly green eyes. “Please, say you would at least consider my wishes.”

“You think that it's okay to do this when we're on a plane? We haven't spoken in years and you're going to do this? Seriously? I mean, come on!” She tried to get away from him, but his grip on her was too much—or was it that she had no real intentions to actually leave? “You are the worst. The absolute worst.”

“I would love to hear you say that again sometime. How about after we rekindle what we once had between us? I see it in your face that you feel what I feel, even after all this time.” He winked at her and she could feel herself falling victim to his charms, against her better judgment. She couldn't help it that none of her desire to be with him had disappeared in the time they'd been apart, and if he still wanted to be with her, there was no reason to not give it a shot.

She let him pull her from her seat, and once she was standing he made sure to wrap his arm around her waist and hold her as close to him as he could. “You know that we're on a plane, right?” she asked him, as they just stood in the nearly empty cabin. “Can't exactly take a romantic walk and discuss everything that's happened here.”

“No one ever mentioned doing that.” He winked again, before walking her towards the back area of the plane where there was absolutely no one seated, and throwing her down into one of the chairs. When he sat next to her, he lifted the arm rest and pulled her over into his lap. “The walk part, at least. How have things been for you since my departure?”

“Don't talk to me like you care.” She virtually spit out every word, trying to break free from the position she had been put into. “If you did care, which you don't, you wouldn't have left in the first place.”

“Except I do care, much like I always have. I do believe our parting words were along the lines of that my hands were tied in the situation. If it had been my decision, I would have never left you.” The way he smiled down at her, tenderness in his eyes mixed with passion that had been there years before, only made Heather think of the good times they had once shared. Had it really been since the end of that first month after All Stars that she had been with him like this?

It didn't matter to her, though, because all she could feel surging inside of her at that very moment was disdain for him. “What was such a big deal that you had to abandon someone you swore you'd be with forever, huh?”

“Trust me, it is better if you do not find out.”

“Don't tell me then. Cool. Just let me up and walk your obnoxious Spanish behind back out of my life.” She squirmed more, but his arms were pinning her into her position. “Or is there more to this than just a little reacquainting?”

“Why would you assume something such as that? Do you find it odd that I would want to see you again?” It wasn't that he sounded offended by her question; rather, he sounded like he had expected her to be doubtful of his intentions, which irked her. She sighed, letting her body go limp in his grasp in response to his words, hoping that maybe by making him feel as if he had gained the upper hand in the situation, but the plan backfired when he used her lack of overall strength against her and pulled her up into a quick kiss. Once she had hit his lap once more he gave a soft, but somewhat sinister, chuckle. “I greatly missed being in your presence.”

She pouted and attempted to move one of her hands to wipe his taste off of her lips. “It's a shame that you can only say that to me when you've got me pinned down.”

“You simply would never give me the chance if it was any other way.” Instead of pulling her up again, this time he bent down to kiss her, but she turned her head and his lips met her cheek instead. The sound of disappointment he let out as he returned to his upright position was enough to make Heather actually somewhat regret duping him into missing her lips. “See? Even in this position you still find ways to escape me.”

There was a light in his eyes that seemed to go out with what he said, and for a split second she wondered if that meant she was going to be freed. Instead, much to her shock, he pulled her completely up so that she was no longer laying in his lap, but rather sitting in it—something that she tried to resist but was completely overpowered by his brute strength. “You can let go of me whenever,” she reminded him, trying to shake his grip off of her arm. “Kinda need to make sure you didn't break anything by moving me like this.”

“I would never so much as harm a hair on your head. Physically, I mean. There are emotional wounds I have inflicted that I can tell you have yet to get over.”

“Aw, what makes you think that? The fact that I don't want anything to do with you?” She spoke with scathing words, their conversations of old in which they promised to be together forever in the front of her mind. “The fact that you _abandoned_ me without any good reason?”

“There was a good reason, but now is not the time or the place to get into that matter. All I ask of you is one moment, much like ones we used to have. Is that too much of a request?” He tried to nuzzle her with his cheek, but she headbutted him in retaliation. “It seems as if it is so. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all.”

“Of course it wasn't a good idea!” After hitting him again with her head, he let go of her arms, which gave her the freedom to jump from his lap and stand in the aisle of the plane. “You can't just get on a plane with someone you haven't bothered to talk to in years—which I have no idea why you're here, by the way—and expect that she feels just like she did the last time you saw her! Especially not when the last time you saw her was when you were walking out on her!”

He sat in a stunned silence for a few moments, blinking slowly as he took in her outburst. She was fuming, her face red from all the anger she had let erupt, but when he finally found the ability to focus on her, he smiled and couldn't help but remark on her beauty. “It is a shame that you seem to hate me, because there is little I would say no to if you asked for it right now, with all of that anger just radiating from your perfect skin.”

Her eyes narrowed and she shot daggers at him. “You can't hit on someone when she's chewing you out.”

“I am sure that it's been done before.” He stood, grabbing her hand once more and pulling her even closer to the back of the plane. “Now would you care to join me to, ahem, let off more of this steam?”

“What are you implying? You know that all I want to do is punch you in that smug, gorgeous face.”

“Face hits are out of the question, _mi amor_. I was expecting something a little more, shall I say, pleasurable.” When the realization hit her that he wasn't talking about anything painful, but rather something much more risque, she had to fight the rational part of her mind that told her that it was all a game, that he wasn't meaning anything by what he was going to do. The passionate part of her, the part still so tangled up in feelings for the man holding her hand, pleaded with her that it was his way of saying he was sorry for leaving, that he still loved her after all.

Ultimately, she followed the passionate part rather than the rational one, and ended up unexpectedly joining the mile-high club while being intertwined with him inside of the only cramped bathroom that was on the plane. And while that decision didn't strip her of her dignity or her pride, as people tended to brag about having encounters of the sexual kind while in the air, what happened after it did: upon the plane's landing, he disappeared without so much as a farewell, and certainly without any apologies.

She had been used. For six months, all she thought about when it came to love and romance was that dirty bastard and how he had the nerve to talk her into submission and then abandon her once more after the deed was done. If she hadn't already been bitter about her love life before that, she definitely was after six long months of brooding about what had gone on in that tiny bathroom on that small plane.

All of the anger she had redeveloped towards him came to its climax in the way she would have least liked it to, not in the comfort of her bedroom or in some private location that no one would ever dare look. It was on yet another airplane, in the first class cabin that she had carefully sweet-talked her way into, where she had expected to ride in comfort from her home airport to the one in Vegas. After all, even the most spoiled of ex-reality show contestants needed a break from reality every once in a while, and after the past six months in her life, she needed a few drinks and some mindless gambling to fix her problems.

The cabin door was just about to close, and she had what was most likely the only open seat left in the plane right next to her. A perfect situation to be found in, she thought, and she began preparing herself for what would probably be the most peaceful flight in her life. That was, until one more passenger came onto the plane, giving apologies in two languages as he made his way to that sole open seat.

“You're kidding me,” she muttered under her breath as he settled down next to her. “Of all the flights? Really?”

“You would be surprised about how hard it is to stage something such as this.” He smiled at her and she gave him a disgusted look in return. “Oh, it seems you still harbor ill will towards me.”

“You make me sick, Alejandro. Why don't you just go find someone else to bother?” She turned her head so she was facing the window. Anything was better than looking at his smug face in her opinion. “Especially since there's an entire plane full of people who would be fine with some Spanish hunk talking to them.”

“Your insults are weak when you follow them with compliments.”

“That wasn't a compliment!” she snapped back, flinging her arm at him to whack him in the chest. “That was the exact opposite of a compliment!”

“Unless the definition of the word 'hunk' changed in the past five seconds, I am fairly certain that it was indeed a compliment.” As he kept smiling at her, she gasped in realization that what she had said was not what she had intended to say in the slightest. “It seems as if you still think highly of me, and for that I'm impressed.”

She responded by hitting him again, earning her a scolding by a passing flight attendant who warned her that physical violence wasn't welcome on the aircraft. “You've got a plan to ruin my life, don't you?” she asked him once the attendant was out of earshot. “Can't leave me alone and forget about me, can you?”

“Once you know someone as I know you, it is hard to forget about them. Especially when I can still hear you moaning my name when I think about you.” Her face went pale and she turned solely to glare at him, all while he smiled on. “You're still quite attractive when you shoot those daggers at me. They look painful but inflict no wounds on me.”

“Don't talk to me about that incident.”

“Which part? Where you moaned? Or where you begged for me to continue? I like to remember the second one.” As he spoke, she became more and more flustered and tried to get him to shut up, as their conversation was earning the interest of everyone seated around them. But he didn't seem to care, and from that point until they were high in the skies, the only thing that stopped him from recounting the entire experience on their last shared plane ride was the emergency evacuation procedure demonstration.

By the time he was done speaking, Heather was completely mortified, and she had been through a bunch of embarrassing things before this. Nothing that she had gone through had been on this level of depravity, however, and she would much have rather shown her bare chest on television again than have the entire first class cabin know, in detail, everything that had happened the last time she had been laid. Her face was covered by her hands and was as close to in her lap as she could get it, just hoping that maybe it was a dream and that there wasn't her one-time boyfriend sitting right next to her at the end of such a private story.

But he was there, and he wanted to make sure that she was aware of it. He placed his hand on her back and slowly began rubbing it, in an attempt to relieve tension from the situation. “ _Mi amor_ , you can uncover your beautiful face. No one here thinks any less of you than they do me.”

“It's called a reputation, asshole.” Normally, she kept her cursing to the moments where no one would hear it, or where if they did hear it, it would be censored. But this particular moment had enough anger attached to it that she felt fine with dropping a few choice words. “Guys can fuck around all they want and they're fine. Not the same for women.”

“I highly doubt anyone here cares enough to think anything of what I said.”

“Doesn't mean you needed to tell everyone about ou—my sex life!” She lifted her head a bit, pulling her hands away from her face to grab the bottom of the chair instead. “Because I'm pretty sure you've fucked your fair share of girls in all that time you abandoned me!”

His head tilted slightly, as he pondered what she had said. “I am sure you are going to call me a liar for this, but when I say you are the only woman I have gotten to know bibically, it is the truth.” She wasn't sure what exactly that meant, and as she didn't want to be civil and ask what he was talking about, he had to assume that his wording needed clarification. “I've only ever done anything with you, Heather. No one else.”

By this point, he was speaking in hushed whispers, so when she found the ability to speak after that, she did the same. “Uh huh. No guy ditches a girl and doesn't go straight to find someone new to sleep with.”

“There was a reason I left you on both occasions, and neither of them had anything to do with other women.” He sighed, preparing himself to explain something that he had been cagey about since their encounter on the other plane. “I had to make sure you were right for me.”

“That is literally the lamest excuse I've ever heard.”

“Except it is no excuse at all. Have you never heard that if you love something, let it go?” He raised an eyebrow at her as she thought about if she had heard that. When she finally said she had, he continued with, “That's exactly what I had to do. Twice.”

“And you couldn't tell me about this because...?”

“Would you have believed me if I had said that I was leaving because I had to make sure you would remain faithful to me even if I was not present?” The answer to that question wasn't something that Heather could come up with right away, and she spent the rest of their plane ride in silence, wondering how she was supposed to answer that. While she thought, he fielded questions by the eager people sitting around them about the story he had told, much to her dismay. It was much harder to think about answering deep romantic questions when she was listening to strangers ask about the way she performed sexual acts.

She didn't have an answer for Alejandro's question when the plane landed, something that bothered her. This was going to be farewell for them once more, and she didn't have some sort of snarky response for what he had asked. That meant that she needed to get away from him as fast as she could, to avoid having to ever bring it up again, and possibly never have to ever think about what could have been in their relationship. It was a shame that he was in the aisle seat and could block her from getting off the plane, then. “Do you think you can get out of answering?” he asked her when he saw her standing up. “Because you cannot. I will not allow it.”

“I don't have an answer, and never will. Besides, what you said's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No one actually does that.” She tried to push by him but he blocked her with both of his arms. “Let me off the plane.”

“What fun would there be in that?”

“I don't know. We're in Vegas. Letting me off would let me have the fun I intended to have when I bought this plane ticket.” She rolled her eyes when he shook his head and told her to sit back down so they could talk while everyone else left. “Ugh, whatever. You're not getting an answer though.”

“I think I will find the one I want eventually. First, though, I have a request of you.” He had his smug grin on his face as he moved his head closer to hers. “I seem to have gotten on this plane without anywhere to stay upon arrival. Would you mind sharing where you're staying with me?”

The look of absolute disgust that appeared on her face should have been enough of an answer, but she had to reply in words as well: “You're fucking kidding me. Really?”

“No one said that I had the entire plan figured out.” He shrugged his shoulders and she rolled her eyes once more. “Besides, you have similar tastes to mine and wherever you will be staying should suit me as well.”

She shook her head. “Nope. I booked myself a one bed room, since I'm on this trip by myself.”

“You act as if you have never shared a bed with me before.” He had a point, because for that one fateful month, they had been sharing not just a bed, but almost everything. “And even if we are in the same bed, that just means we will be sleeping together. Not _sleeping_ together.” The way he said the last part, with enough emphasis to make it known that he was blatantly lying, was enough to make Heather want to tell him no, just to get him to leave her alone.

But that was the rational part of her that wanted that, and the part of her that was still attracted to this man was pulling for her to fall for his thinly-veiled attempt at seducing her. “I'll think about it,” she said, bringing joy to his face as he thanked her multiple times over for so much as giving him a chance. “Hey, don't push your luck with all these dramatics.”

“My apologies, but I feel this is simply necessary.” He got to his feet and they got off the plane, the last passengers to disembark. The moment they made it to the terminal, he picked her up in his arms and began carrying her through the crowds of people milling around bridal-style—and people who saw this display began cheering.

“Why are you doing this to me?” she loudly asked, her voice taking on a whining tone. “Can't you stop making fools out of us for one minute?”

“I am just showing my appreciation to you. Are you bothered by that?” When she said that she was indeed bothered, he stopped walking. “Then maybe I should toss you over a railing.”

Her eyes widened in fear. “No thanks. I'd rather not die while on vacation.”

“So stop complaining about my expressions of affection for one moment and enjoy it.” Rather than arguing the point further and possibly getting thrown over something much worse than a railing, she rode in his arms in silence until they made it to the baggage claim, where she was dumped to the floor. She went to argue that it wasn't fair treatment to her, for him to carry her so far just to throw her away, until she realized that she had been clinging to him and if he had honestly asked her to let go, she would have refused by that point. Being held by him, as much as she hated admitting it, was something she had loved since way before they had ever gotten together.

“Sorry if I am breaking you from your thoughts, but the luggage has gone by twice now and you should really work on grabbing what belongs to you.” Alejandro, with what he had brought on the trip next to him, placed a hand on Heather's shoulder. In response she grabbed for something, but it wasn't her luggage.

In the middle of the crowd standing at the baggage claim, she had absentmindedly reached below the belt on someone she acted like she absolutely despised. He laughed it off, she screamed and nearly fell onto the conveyor belt, and the situation made her want to never so much as look him in the eyes again after they were done there.

The problem with that was, even after they had left the airport, he wouldn't leave her alone. He climbed into the same vehicle as her, claiming to be going to the exact destination she was (which she knew was a jab at her possibly letting him stay with her), and once they made it to the front entrance of the resort that she had picked for her little vacation, he was being quite chummy with her once more. “Please, for the love of everything, just leave me alone!” she screamed, attempting to storm away from where he stood. He happened to catch up to her in moments, with both longer legs and less bags to worry with dragging along.

“You and I are both very aware that you want me here, so please stop with the charade that you hate me and just accept the truth.” He spoke as they walked, her on a mission to get to the check-in desk, to get her room and then lock herself in it while he was stuck outside, while he simply wanted her companionship. “You excel at playing hard to get, but it has gotten old.”

“That's exactly how I want it to be!” Flipping her hair so that it smacked him in the face, she got him to back off long enough to get her room assignment, but the second she got into the elevator to go up to her room, he was right back next to her. “Hey! I never said you were sharing my room with me. Go get your own.”

He sighed deeply, a sad look upon his face. “I cannot.”

“Sure you can. Walk down to the counter, say you need a room, and make sure to request one as far away from me as possible. Easy as that.”

“When I say I cannot, it has nothing to do with the physical aspect of it. It deals with the small fact that I spent what money I had getting on that plane to come here.” She could feel her jaw drop in disbelief, because no person was dumb enough to actually travel somewhere with no idea of how they were going to stay there. He must have lost his mind trying to use that excuse on her, yet that part of her being that was still so romantically attracted to him ate the excuse up like it was the most delicious thing ever.

“You know,” she said, thinking about how what she was about to suggest could either end up hurting her or making her vacation the best ever, “we _have_ shared a bed before...”

When his face brightened at the sound of her saying that, she should have known what was coming next. He was going to come into her room, light up her life, and then disappear into the vast nothing the second she fell hard for him again. Except, on this particular occasion, after they had gotten into the room and done nothing more than put their bags against the wall, and after they had joined their bodies together in a way that only true, passionate lovers did, there was something different that happened: he didn't even contemplate leaving.

And the next morning, when he was laying beside her without a single article of clothing on, she was shocked to see him. The shock got worse when he kissed her before getting out of bed, and then while getting dressed fielded several questions, all of which dealt with the matter of him staying for the duration of the trip, as well as going back to Canada with her. “I did my time away from you Heather,” he said softly, climbing back into the bed once he was dressed. “And for this next week, as well as the rest of your life, you will be mine.”

Both the rational and romantic parts of her fell for it this time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for reading this first chapter of a fic I've been working on for a month now, but have been planning for a long time coming. It's good to see it in its posted format, finally! I don't have much to say here (yet), but I'll be updating this weekly until it's over, and don't get too used to things because they will be changing. Lots of plot twists ahead!  
> Also I'll be adding tags as I see fit, as things happen and warnings need to be made.


	2. Vegas Days, Paris Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unwanted addition to a vacation (that being the presence of Alejandro) changes the entire trip. But is it a change for the better after all?

By the time she was fully awake and understanding what she had gotten herself into with him being in the same room as her, Heather had realized that by doing this, she was opening herself up to Alejandro about as much as she ever had before. But seeing him in the bed next to her, just laying and staring at her with a content smile, made the risk that she ran by trusting him worth it to her. How could she distrust someone who looked so great?

Admittedly, she knew exactly how and why she should do just that, but he had promised to be with her, and what was it that he had said on the plane? That he had left her because of that “love someone, let them go” saying? That had to have meant something, and while he may have been a liar in the past there was no way that he was going to lie again when she was doing something so nice for him by letting him stay with her.

“I should probably admit something,” he said, clearing his throat. She rolled onto her side to look straight at him, the thin sheet on the bed being her only form of cover. “While it is harmless, you should be aware that I may have stretched the truth to convince you to let me stay here.”

Or maybe he was still a giant lying jerk. She started to get angry, saying “How could you do such a thing?” but he shushed her to calm her back down. She didn't willingly shut up, but after he smashed his lips against hers for a moment, she decided that maybe listening to him explain what he meant would be a good thing before getting angry.

After he had collected himself from their kiss, he smiled at her as he explained his deceit. “I had to lie to get you to let me stay with you, but I only lied about what I spent my money on. Once I found out you were coming here, I had to plan out many activities that would win your heart back, and so I spent every last bit of money to my name on things we could do together.” She didn't look amused, and his smiled faltered. “I-if that is fine with you, that is. I see you are hurt by me tricking you, but it was an innocent deception, I assure you.”

“Lying is never innocent. Unless you're trying to win money, then it's to win and no one cares if it's innocent or not.” As his smile faded more, she continued on. “However, you somehow found out I was coming here and you wanted to be part of it. I don't know how much of your sob story I should be believing, but you were still here when I woke up, so that's a start. What kind of things did you plan?”

“All sorts of events, shows, and the like. There is much to be done in this town, as I am sure you are very aware.” He looked almost upset at how she still didn't seem pleased, but when she started to smile herself, his face brightened. “I hope you enjoy what we have going on today, and I believe that our day should start with something fun. How does a romantic tour of this very hotel sound to you to start? I have heard great things about this place.”

She yawned, nodding as she did. “Sounds like a plan. Just don't try to bang me in a fountain or something. It seems like that's what you're eventually going to ask me for, so let's just make it clear that I am _not_ going to get in trouble for that.”

“Trust me, that is not in the cards for today.” As she got up to get dressed, he began to outline what exactly he wanted to get accomplished during the day. “We will start with the tour, then I have acquired tickets to a show or two for tonight. Between those two events, we can do whatever your heart desires.” Catching her giving him a suspicious look, he made sure to quickly clarify that last point. “I mean by that we can take advantage of this hotel's amenities or explore around here. I would like to keep our activities outside of this room, however.”

“Oh, and like you're going to keep to that want. The last two times we've been together, we've fooled around. Including yesterday.”

He nodded. “And yesterday is all I feel we needed.”

“I highly fucking doubt that you'll be able to keep yourself from wanting me again while we're here. We are sharing a bed, remember?”

“Being away from you taught me how to resist physical desires when it comes to expressing love.” He sounded somewhat like a motivational speaker, one who was trying to convince a group of young people not to hook up and have wild sex because it would ruin their lives. Except she fully knew that he wasn't above hooking up with anyone, or, rather, hooking up with her.

“Uh huh, tell me that again when we get through a day together where you don't convince me to lose my clothes.” She had just finished getting dressed as she spoke, putting her shoe on as she said the last word. “Unless we're going to change into something else, I am not undressing in front of you again for a long time. Maybe never.”

He sat up on the end of the bed and stood, coming over to her and grabbing her in a hug. “I promise you that you will change your mind about that soon enough.”

“You're promising me a lot of things, and I don't care enough to check to see if your fingers are crossed or not. Now can you get off of me so we can go do something?” Her tone sounded serious, but her face was soft and looked liked she was enjoying his touch, so he lingered for a moment, until she asked him again to stop. “Thank you,” she curtly said, brushing her arms off as if she was trying to rid herself of his scent. “We're going now, right?”

“If you want to, yes.” By the way she headed towards the door without another word, her answer was clear. He jumped up, got his shoes on as fast as he could, and quickly followed behind her, leaving the room and walking down the impossibly long hallway to the elevators down to the hotel lobby. They weren't the only ones who rode down in their elevator, which should have kept the touching down to a minimum, but Alejandro couldn't help but wrap his arm around Heather's waist and latch his hand onto her. She put up with it for the duration of the ride, but the moment they stopped at their destination she slapped him away and pushed herself through the crowd getting out of the elevator.

He found her a few moments later, standing by a window looking out over the street below. “There's so much we can do. So many places I can leave you to give you a taste of your own medicine,” she remarked, noticing that he had come up next to her. “But there are also so many places that you can spoil me.”

“And spoil you I shall. You will be surprised at the things I have planned for us.” This time, when he put his arm around her, she didn't fight it when it was time for them to start moving. “First things first, breakfast is in order. I suppose that something small would be best, so that we can try out as many other places as possible during our adventures today.”

She raised her eyebrows, something he only noticed by looking at her reflection in the glass. “Wow, mister picky eater here is actually suggesting trying things? Color me shocked.”

“I did my research and found that many eateries here are considered some of the best, and I happen to enjoy trying foods if they are labeled 'the best'. It is only when they are unappealing or unhealthy that I refuse to eat them.” He pulled her into him a bit closer, earning himself two hands' worth of being pushed off of as she broke away from his grasp. “What, do you not like that fact? Or is it that you are still wary of being close to me?”

“ _Puh_ -leese, it's just super hot in here and I don't need you sweating all over me.” Like she had back in the room, she brushed herself off, but this time there was a hint of a blush on her cheeks, which he noticed and smirked at. “Hey! I said it's hot, didn't I?”

“You did, but I do not think that your face is turning red like that because of the air temperature.”

She gasped and tried to cover her face, but it didn't matter. He had seen and that was that. “Just...ugh! Let's go eat already!” She stormed off in the wrong direction to where he had intended for them to go, and so he had to catch up to her once more and steer her right. The little cafe he had chosen for this particular meal was located inside the hotel they were staying in, and so it wasn't too far of a walk to get there, nor was it too busy when they arrived.

Once they were seated at a small table in the corner, he was ready to lay out the rest of the day's plans, in case they got separated by another display like the one in the lobby. “We start here, obviously,” he said, before retrieving some tickets and papers out of one of the pockets of his pants. “Then we have a few hours to walk around before we find somewhere for lunch. After that, a few more hours of exploration before a show, and after that—I feel that we should take a romantic trip up to the top of the replica Eiffel Tower and watch the fountain show. But that is just what I think we should do.”

“You really took the time to not only find out when I was coming here, but also to plan out what to do if I somehow let you stay with me. I've gotta say, you're kind of a stalker, aren't you?”

“It was not me who found out when your trip was. I enlisted someone with much more knowledge in finding out the details for that. Everything else was me, however.” He flipped through a few of the tickets and papers, smiling as he did. “I paid for two tickets to several of the shows this town has to offer, each for a different night so that there is no overlap. If you were to have rejected me, which, be honest, would you have?” She rolled her eyes and said she probably wouldn't have, and so he continued. “Exactly. But if you had, I would have been able to sell the extras and use the money made from that to find my own place to stay.”

“Okay, so you bought these tickets and decided that your ploy to get me back gets priority over my vacation time? Whatever.” She turned her head in disgust, giving a little “hmph” as she did. “But I must say that what you described for today does sound really nice...”

“I love when your voice softens as you speak to me. It either means you are being genuine or you are about to stab me in the back, and I have no idea which one you are going for this time.” Laughing to himself, he put the things back in his pocket where they belonged, and soon they were greeted by the wait staff and their meal had begun. In typical fashion, even though one of them definitely had money and the other one swore he didn't, they left exactly what their bill was and left without so much as thanking their server, a trait that both of them shared and admired in each other. “I must say, I missed doing that to people,” he said as they walked away from the cafe's entrance. “That woman who served us will be sorely disappointed that we did that, but tipping is not something people with class do.”

She was still somewhat upset with him about his admittance that he had knowingly controlled her vacation, but she couldn't help but chuckle at what he had said. “People with class? You mean people with common sense. If you want to make money, go on TV or something. Seriously. You aren't going to make money off of us who have it.”

“Especially when you would be the only one capable of leaving extra.” He placed a hand over the pocket that contained all the tickets and gave her a smug look. “Because I seem to have only allotted so much for each meal after paying for everything we will be doing.”

“And I'm using all my money for the things I came here for. Which isn't throwing cash at sub-par service.” She playfully poked him in the side with her elbow, hoping that he would laugh at what she said, but he looked quizzically at her in return. “Oh, come on. You know that was funny.”

“I do know it was funny. But this is no time for laughter. I was just curious, do you know how it is possible for you to be so devious and yet so adorable?” Having prefaced that to make it seem serious, the compliment on her appearance took Heather by complete surprise, and much like the incident in the lobby earlier that morning, her face began to turn red. “There's that pesky blush again. What a shame, because it makes you only cuter.”

“Shut up, jerk.” She attempted to divert his attention from her by pointing out what they were coming up on: the first actual casino they'd seen since they'd arrived. “Oh, I have an idea! You said this was time to kill, right?”

“Correct. What are you going to suggest?”

“Gambling. Duh.” She beamed at him, hoping her enthusiasm about the topic would distract him from her reddened face. “I can go try to make more money than I've already got, and you can go sulk in the corner because you're a dumbass who spent everything on things that aren't games.”

To prove her wrong, he pulled what was a small stack of already-exchanged cash out of one of his other pockets. “I think you should be saying, we can try together to make more money, because what kind of person would I be if I forgot the one main purpose of this entire town?”

She gave a loud, exasperated sigh, starting to walk off without him again. “You know what? I think I'm just going to stop trying to one-up you. It's obviously not working for me!” she called back at him, as she left him behind. But when she stopped focusing on him for just a second, he took the time to catch back up with her and pick her up off the ground. “Hey! Put me down!”

“I think not. You keep trying to disappear and I would hate for you to get separated from me. Why, it would hurt more now than it had for the past many years, _mi amor_.” She gave a low growl, followed with the demand to put her back on her feet right that moment, and he did so, not wanting to start too much of a scene in public. “Okay, I understand now that you do not feel as I do. I will keep that in mind.”

“You're just trying to get under my skin, Alejandro. I know you are.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that accusation. You just are so cute when you get angry, or flustered, or show any emotion at all, and sometimes it gets hard to control myself around you.” He cleared his throat, looking around somewhat uncomfortably after what he said. “Shall we get to your activity of choice now, Heather?”

“Yes, please. And don't ever say my name like that again.” He had to ask for clarification on what she meant by what she said. “You sounded like my name was something you enjoy saying. And I don't like that.”

He pursed his lips together as he thought of an appropriate response to that, before shrugging and dropping the subject completely. Figuring the conversation was over, he grabbed her wrist and started towards some of the loud machines with the flashing lights, but she wasn't having any of it. “I'm not done talking with you yet,” she said, her voice serious. “You can't just walk off when we're having a discussion.”

“I will speak no more on the topic, and I will make sure to always say your name as if it is the most unpleasant thing to ever come from between my lips.” On his hand that was not latched on to her, he had crossed his fingers as he spoke, something he hoped she didn't notice. “I must say, though, that the worst thing I ever said was when I told you farewell the first time.”

“You can cut the sappy crap now, because I don't want to hear it. Just go back to dragging me around to where _you_ want to go and we'll call it good.” He obliged, beginning to head towards the machines once more with her following very closely behind.

The next several hours were spent with them playing machines that were side-by-side, never really winning but never really losing at the same time. After they exhausted the entertainment value of spinning reels and the occasional loud noise, they moved on to the next stop on the list, which was a lunch worthy of the gods at some buffet that they found as they walked around. Once they had gotten all they wanted from the massive choice of food there, they had to make a choice that would not have existed if there weren't tickets for a show later that night riding around in Alejandro's pocket.

“We can either go back to our room and relax until the time for the show nears, then run down to where it is held and go to it, or we can make our way down to that end of the street now and have fun as we go. What do you think we should do?” he asked her, knowing that she would be angry if he made yet another decision on what was supposed to be something she enjoyed on her own. “Either option is fine in my opinion so it's up t—“

“I want to walk down there now, thank you very much. Maybe we'll run into something interesting on the way.” She crossed her arms over her chest so he couldn't grab one of her hands or wrists to pull her along. “And I want to lead, thank you very much. You can follow me for once.”

“Ah, taking control I see. A very admirable and attractive trait in any woman.”

She glared at him. “Stop trying to flatter me. It's not earning you any points.”

“Sometimes you deserve to hear compliments on your existence, and I seem to have many years of compliments to make up for. Forgive me if I seem as if I am trying to flatter you.” The way he smiled at her as he spoke made her fake gag in response. “Oh yes, I had forgotten that you do that when you have no interest in hearing what I have to say. We should go before I remember other things about you.”

“Like what, my measurements? Because I'm sure if you ask enough, I'll tell you them!” Several bystanders looked at her with confused faces, and she realized that maybe she had shouted that a bit too loudly for being inside of a crowded casino resort. “Ugh, let's just get out of here before I really do say those. There's something about being around you that makes me just want to...admit things. Ick.”

“I seem to loosen your lips more than you appreciate.” With that, he planted a kiss on her cheek and motioned for her to lead the way to wherever she wanted them to go to spend time in the interim before their show. She didn't have a set destination in mind, taking them through many different little shops and a mall or two before finally setting her eyes on somewhere that they simply had to go.

The sight of the giant yellow figure made Alejandro shudder, which only made Heather more dead-set on going to the store that was contained inside of it. “I'm sure that there will be something inside here you'll like,” she told him as they went inside, but judging by the face he made when the smell of sweets hit his nose, there was nothing that would make him like where they were. “You can't complain about this. You're dragging me to shows.”

“Yes, but shows are entertaining. This is a candy shop, and do you know what they sell at places like this?” She patiently waited for his answer, which was to be expected. “They sell candy. Nasty, unhealthy, disgusting candy.”

“And no one ever said you had to have any. Oh, right, who's the one who has money to spend here? Me. I forgot.” He stuck his tongue out at her and she responded the same way, before leading him on a journey through the several floors of the shop, including spending many a minute staring at the many different colors and varieties of candy. “This all looks so good. If only someone who loved me would buy me some.”

“First of all, I am quite shocked that you would refer to me in such a way. Secondly, even if these chocolate things were the only food left in the world, I would never buy them. Not even for you.” He stared at the wall of colors in disdain, disgusted that there were so many types of something he found so terrible. “Do you realize how much damage a little bit of this stuff could do to either one of us?”

“I'm not the one who's big into body worship, so I don't really care. If it wasn't so expensive, you know I'd get some and convince you to eat them.” She turned away from the wall then, heading back off into the clothing and material goods part of the store, and he was happy to follow her.

When they made it to the uppermost floor of the building, the smell of the candy was less strong, making it easier to breathe, but there was the scent of something else that filled the air: metal and rubber. The reason behind the new scents was a car, sitting on a pedestal in the corner of the room. “A car? But how?” he asked, looking around to see if there was some way the roof on the building lifted off so a crane could put the car in the room. “Did they build this up here? This is one of the oddest places I have ever been in my life. A wall of candy and a car on the top floor. How strange.”

“I think it's a lot stranger that people seem to  _ worship _ this car.” Heather was looking at some of the clothes that hung on the wall surrounding the car, all of which either had pictures of the car, or the same number as it. “I mean, I know racing's a thing, but are people this serious about it? Really?”

“I would rather not find that out for myself. Can we please leave this place now? I think our time here is up and we would have more fun elsewhere.” She agreed and, while they left the store empty-handed (which was not a bad thing at all in Alejandro's opinion), there was much more for them to do aside from look at things they didn't like or understand.

One such thing was walk aimlessly around a medieval-themed arcade for close to an hour, looking at all of the games that had plush toys to win. “You any good at these kinds of things?” Heather asked, motioning to one of the attractions that consisted of a bunch of colored bowls floating around in a circle pond. “Because I would love to see someone win one, just once.”

“You ask as if there would be any answer other than yes. It is such a shame that winning you the largest prize would be pointless, as we would have no way to get it home.” He looked to the giant plush bear above their heads, and when he saw the somewhat wistful look in her eyes he knew that she had more reason to asking him if could win than just knowing. “Would you like me to win that for you?”

“What? No! That's the dumbest thing you've ever asked me. And you've asked me a lot of dumb things. I really was just curious if you were capable of winning!” The way she got flustered, he knew that she did want him to win it for her, but when he made the motion to pull money from his pocket to give the game a shot, she stopped him. “No, really, don't do it. I believe you that you could do it. I don't need a stupid stuffed bear to prove it.”

“As you insist. Anything you want, though, just tell me and I will get it for you.” She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed. “You know I will do it, so please act like you trust me about this.”

“First you say you don't have any money, and now you say you'll get me whatever I want. What if I...” Her voice trailed off as she looked around for something else to question him about, and the sight of an illuminated sign caught her gaze before anything else. “What if I want tickets to that stripper show? I bet you wouldn't dare get me those.”

He looked for where she saw anything about a stripper show, and when he found the same sign, which happened to be the entrance for the show's theater, he smiled. “If that is what you want, I will get you a ticket for the show for tomorrow. I, of course, will abstain from going, but you are more than welcome to it.”

“Aw, you don't want to ogle shirtless guys with me? How lame. I don't want to go if you won't be there with me.” It took her a second, in which he looked at her with a surprised and somewhat interested expression before she reworded what she had said. “I-I mean, I want you to be there so I can make fun of how uncomfortable you are.”

“The way you said that originally made it seem as if you desire companionship, not watching me have no problems at all with seeing other men.” She tried to talk her way out of the situation, but all she was capable of were babbles and he laughed. “In such a short time with me, you have gotten back into your ways of being unable of keeping composure around me. I must say, I really like having power over you.”

“Who said you had power over me?”

He gave her a smug smirk. “I believe I just did. Now come with me, I do believe it is time to get in line for our next show.” He wasn't completely correct in that assumption, as there was still some time before it began, but they were able to be two of the first people to enter the auditorium with the rows of seats on the side and the dirt floor in the middle. At first, Heather thought it was going to be some weird show that she would never enjoy in a million years, but it was something thrilling and fun that had her and Alejandro both cheering for the team they had been assigned to, even if they were in the section of the designated bad guy. Plus, it was dinner and a horse show, something that they could have easily gone to somewhere much closer to home, but the experience was something that just felt more like a Vegas thing.

By the time they were leaving the auditorium and headed out of the casino, the sun was beginning to set on the town, cooling the air outside and making it much more comfortable to be walking around on the street. It also meant that people were out in full force, and not everyone outside had the intention of going anywhere. Some of them were shoving cards of scantily-clad people into the faces and hands of passerbys, and a few such cards ended up being shoved into the gap between Heather's shirt and her chest. Needless to say, as he was pulling them out one by one, Alejandro got a kick out of making sure to seductively describe them to her.

“You can stop telling me what they look like, thanks,” she rudely said, knocking the cards out of his hand and pulling the rest out herself. “If I wanted to see them, I'd look for myself.”

“Well whoever decided it was their right to put them there must have wanted to give you the message that all of these women have larger chests than you. Maybe you should look for yourself and see what you are missing.” As they passed yet another person handing the cards out, he took a few, putting them in her face to show her what he meant. “Look, these ones have uncensored parts. How interesting.”

“You're getting sick enjoyment from this, aren't you?” She pushed his hand away from her, making the cards fall as she did. “I don't need any work done, thank you very much.”

“And that is something I like about you more than all of those ladies. You know you have something going for you that has power over me.” He knew that he had made his point when she started gagging. “Oh, don't act like you had no idea that was the truth.”

“Sorry, I try not to think about your preferences about my body.” Taking a few steps and almost getting separated from him if it weren't for him grabbing her hand, she started to pick up speed in the direction of their hotel. “Can we go back to the room now? We've had a long day and I'd like to get to rest before we have another insanely long day tomorrow.”

He never answered yes or no, and so she took that as a positive answer and began mentally preparing herself for the bed in the hotel room and getting some well-deserved sleep before having to do anything else in the heat. But when they reached the hotel, he pulled her down a different path than the one to the lobby with the elevators. “I have one last thing planned for tonight, but it needs to be dark before we do it. Got that?”

“You've got to be fucking kidding me. I'm already lounging in bed in my mind, can't we do this tomorrow?” She yawned to give her story some validity, but when she saw the pleading look Alejandro was giving her, she stopped. “Okay, okay, fine. What do you propose we do to kill time before it's dark? Waste more money?”

“I think wasting money sounds like a wonderful idea. A good way to make a few hours pass before the time to do the last thing for today.” Once again he grabbed her hand, but unlike all the times before, she willingly laced her fingers between his. “Oh? You want to hold hands with me?”

“I might. Maybe. Don't focus on that though and let's just go do something.” She started towards a different set of machines than the ones they had been at earlier in the day, and it wasn't until a couple hours later that they departed them, having made no money but not really having lost any either. That was when he took her to a different part of the building than where they had been so far, where an elevator to seemingly nowhere was located, with a line of people stemming from it. “What is this about?” she asked him in a whisper, trying not to seem as clueless as she was. “Is there something going on that I don't know about?”

“There is a lot that fits that criteria, I believe. But yes. Once we wait in this line, you will see what it is, I assure you.” Since there was no real other option, she had to do as he said and so together they waited in that line for what felt like an eternity, until they got to a ticket stand and he paid for two admissions up the elevator to what someone in front of them called the “best view” in the entire city.

When they finally got to ride up to the landing in the replica tower that peaked through the building, Heather remembered vaguely that this had been mentioned in the day's itinerary—and that it was definitely the prettiest view of anything she had seen in a very long time, most likely since she had seen the real Eiffel Tower. Lights glimmered and glistened in every direction, the fronts of each and every resort and casino ablaze with colors. And directly in front of them, seen only when they pushed through a small crowd, was a dazzling fountain show that threw water and light up into the darkened sky. “This is amazing...” she said, pushing herself closer to Alejandro, who was watching with as much wonder as she was. “Did you know this was like this?”

“I did not, but _madre de dios_ , it is the second most beautiful thing I have seen in my life.” He pulled her in front of him, so he could rest his chin on her head and wrap his arms around her. “The first most beautiful thing is who is standing right in front of me.”

“Oh please, you probably say that to every woman you convince to let you stay in their room. I'm no exception to that.”

He squeezed her into a tight hug that she didn't even attempt to squirm from, a sign that what she had said wasn't meant in the slightest. “I swear to you, I have not said that to anyone but you, and I have never done this for anyone else but you. Even when I was gone, I thought of you and how much I wanted to come back to you, but only when the time was right. And now that time is here.”

“As great as that all sounds, I still don't exactly believe you. It's kind of hard to trust someone who swore we'd be together forever then left without warning.” Her voice was bitter, like each word she spoke was poison that she didn't want to let touch her lips. “You'll have to prove you mean it a lot more to get me to listen.”

Based on what happened over the next many days, he took those words to heart, even if all the tickets had been purchased at some point prior to the trip. Each day there were shows to be seen, different dining experiences to take part in, and a variety of shops to explore, but at the end of every night he paid the money to take her up the tower and watch the fountains in each other's arms. And after the last fountain show for the night was over, he reminded her that the show was still the second most beautiful thing he had seen, and night after night she denied his comments, although as they went on she started denying them less and less.

The day before they were set to head back home, there were no shows to attend. “I figured tonight would be a little different, and so I passed on buying tickets to something that would be less exciting than what I have in store for us,” he explained, as they sat at a table alongside a man-made canal in one of the other resorts. “But before we go any further than this into our evening, I want to ask you something.”

“If it's about enjoying everything you've done for me, I think you should know that answer without needing to hear me say it.” The truth was, from the very beginning, this trip had been planned as a time for her to spend alone, but every moment she had spent with Alejandro next to her was a moment she was glad to have. “So, uh, thanks for hijacking my trip. I really appreciate what you did.”

“You are most certainly welcome, but that has nothing to do with my question.” He placed his hands on the table, beckoning for her to put hers on his, which she did without any hesitation. “I was thinking on this last night after you fell asleep, while I watched you dreaming about whatever it was that had you smiling. Were you dreaming about your future?”

“Huh? No, I don't really remember anything about what I could have been dreaming about, sorry. Why does it matter?” She grabbed onto his hands, squeezing them as she looked into his eyes so he could see she was being honest.

“It matters because I never learned what you wanted in life aside from me.”

“Oh. _Right_. We never exactly got to 'life goals' before you walked out.” The her of old would have been ecstatic to be in this situation, and the current her was feeling quite happy to be so close to someone she had loved so much at one point. Or was it because she loved him once more? “I don't know what I want to do in life, I guess. Never really thought about it.”

He tilted his head to the right as he kept eye contact with her, a small smile upon his lips. “That is harder to believe than all the denials you made on this trip about still feeling anything for me. If you tell your dream in life to me, I will let you in on what mine is.”

“I really don't know. I've got money. People recognize me on the streets sometimes and know my name. What else could I want?” If he pressed the matter again, she would have to draw at straws to come up with answers, but thankfully he stopped pressuring her into answering. “Glad to see you've got enough sense to believe me when I say I don't know.”

“Without your answer, I must say I am wary of letting you know what my own dream in life is. Shall I risk it anyway?”

She softly shrugged her shoulders. “If you want, I guess. I mean, didn't you want to do something life-risking or whatever when we were younger?”

“That I did, but since then I have had a new dream and I believe I should tell you. But now is not the time. After we dine, that is when you will find out.” It was cryptic and slightly unsettling to hear him say that, but there was no reason to not believe what he said after all the things he had done over the course of the trip to make up for lost time between them. So Heather sat through an entire meal, nerves starting to build in her about what, possibly, he could have to tell her that was so important that it had to wait.

But once they finished eating and walked off, once again without leaving a cent extra for the bill, he did not speak on the subject. In fact, he barely said a word as they walked along the canals inside of the building, leading her to some destination she didn't even know about. It ended up being the loading dock for the gondolas that ran throughout the canals, little boats in artificial waters that were somehow just as romantic as the ones they were based upon.

The entire trip was meant to be an hour, and for most of that time the only conversation was prompted by the man paddling the boat, a friendly sort of fellow who seemed to know how to row through the canals better than anyone else. Eventually he silenced himself as well, only speaking to let them know that they were running out of time on their journey and that they were going to head back to the docks.

That was when Alejandro grabbed Heather's hand in a way that he had done so many times before on the trip, and she noticed for the first time that his palm was the slightest bit damp. Had he stuck his hand in the water? she wondered, but when they locked eyes and there was apprehension in his gaze she realized that he was nervous about something, just like she had been about the answer that she assumed she was never going to get. “Are you ready to hear what my life dream is?” he asked her, his voice about as steady as the surface of the water their boat was on. “Before this ride ends, I must tell you it.”

“If you're going to get this worked up about it, maybe you should just go ahead and say it before you forget.” He nodded and let go of her hand, moving his own closer to one of his pockets, placing it inside to dig around for a moment. As he did that, she began to look around, starting to piece together what was about to happen. The smile on the gondolier's face only made her suspect that there was something very big about to happen.

What he pulled out of his pocket was a ring, a gaudy ring just like the ones she had looked at in every jewelry store they had passed in each mall around town. He couldn't exactly kneel before her in the boat, but when he motioned for her to give him her hand, she hesitated for a moment before holding it before him. “My life dream is to be with you, to make up for every moment that we were apart and many, many more. You are the most cunning, intelligent, and attractive woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and it would make me the luckiest man alive if you, _mi amor_ , my dearest Heather, would accept this ring.”

Her mouth had become too dry to speak, so she hoped he would recognize a nod as a yes. He did, and, carefully as to not accidentally throw it into the water, he slid the ring on her finger and kissed her hand to seal the deal. It had taken over a week of convincing her that he still loved her, but she had finally completely fallen for him once more.

Later that night, as they stood up on the balcony of the tower, overlooking the night's last fountain show, he didn't have to mention that she was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his life. And she didn't have to question his motives.

With one little boat ride, they were set to be together forever.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't think it's getting good now, you should wait until next chapter. Everything happens for a reason, and this is just more building up to that reason.


	3. The New House and the Dinner Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being back together--especially after having been apart for so long--means there's a lot to plan, and a lot more to celebrate. Managing to live together for a month on the second attempt is one such celebration point, but, in the spirit of how the relationship's gone thus far, it's no wonder that either Alejandro or Heather, or both of them, manages to mess it up somehow.

In a stark contrast to the last two plane rides they had been on together, this time there was no mention of anything even remotely sexual, and there definitely was no acting on any desires. It was a lot of silence between them, not out of disgust or hatred like before, but rather because there weren't any words to be said.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since the proposal, and nothing had quite sunk in about that situation, let alone the reality that they were headed back home to Canada, where they lived countless miles apart from each other. The common belief was that whatever happened in Vegas stayed there; was this whole engagement going to be forgotten the moment they landed back on home soil? As much as that ate at her for the duration of the flight, Heather had no intentions of asking about it, because she didn't want to give Alejandro the idea to leave her yet again. But, just like with everything he had planned for the vacation that he wasn't ever supposed to be a part of, he already had plans for their return home.

“There was no doubt in my mind that I would be able to convince you to let me stay with you,” he explained as they walked from the airport terminal to the parking lot where he had kept his car, “but I was unsure of what would happen from there.”

“You mean you weren't going to propose to me?” She stopped walking to process what she had just said, something that even in the short time since it had happened had become a pretty important moment in her life.

“Did I ever say that? It would have happened when you trusted and loved me, much like you do now. I never expected you to become so attached to looking at those rings, by the way.” He motioned for her to catch up to him, as she was still standing a bit behind him, and once she had caught up with both of her bags in tow, he pressed his side up against her. “But I got you what you had stared at for so long, and I hope that it is a good start to what I am about to get you.”

She would have stopped again to think about what he was saying, but he kept pushing her forward. “What do you mean, what you're about to get me? You've done enough, I think.”

“While I appreciate that you think that, one of the lessons I had to learn while I was apart from you was how to treat the woman I wanted so badly. While it was easy for my father to woo my mother with expensive trips around the world, I knew from the start that I could not do everything for you.” He looked at her with eyes filled with passion and desire, and she awkwardly smiled back at him. “You like having your dominance, do you not?”

“Duh. That's why I've always been the queen bee. I like being the boss.”

“Exactly! And I was raised to always do what the woman wants, because she will have the more intelligent ideas. But I cannot help myself when it comes to doing things for you, as I know that no matter what your physical reaction is to them, you appreciate that it is I spending the money rather than yourself.” He had a point that she couldn't argue with, because she did enjoy having someone else paying for things while she kept every bit of money that she had acquired over the years saved for when she would really need it. “That is why you will be getting something else here very, very soon, and you will like it.”

“Okay, so you know that I'm a sucker for having things taken care of for me, and you also knew when I was going to be gone, and...how are you learning all this stuff? Were you stalking me before this?” She dropped her smile and began to look at him questioningly. “Or did you just get incredibly lucky with guesses?”

“I will admit that I had some help in finding out when your trip was, but as for the quite-common knowledge about you, that was something I had known long before all this. We were together for a month before I left, and a month was all it took for me to learn many things about you.” It wasn't until they reached the car that he explained what things he had learned, but in the time between that statement and his clarifying of it, there was a lot of thinking on Heather's part as to what he meant. That was why she asked him what he knew, and he did nothing but answer her question: “I learned of your expensive taste in things. You always want the best, but you want to do nothing to earn it aside from ask. A trait that would normally ruin a person, but someone such as yourself with such great looks can work it well.”

She looked everywhere but at him after he said that, her cheeks warming up in a way that she did not appreciate. “Whatever. I know you're just trying to make things up.”

“That is not made up. You know that you would never accept anything but the highest quality. Why else would you have weaseled your way into a first class seat on an airplane?”

“Because it's a long flight and I was not sitting next to some fat guy the entire time. That's why.” As quickly as it had happened, her cheeks went back to their typical pale and she was able to look in his direction again without feeling as if he would question her. “How did you manage to get the seat next to me going both ways?”

“The same way you got your initial seat. I am not too proud to beg for something better. Pulling money from my pocket as a bribe is also useful.” He unlocked the doors to his car, which had been parked in a secluded part of the parking garage and felt like it was a million miles from the terminal, and started putting their things in the back. “Get in, so I can show you what I will be getting you soon enough.”

Not wanting to argue with him, she climbed into the passenger side seat, completely expecting to see something else that he had bought for her. There was no such thing, and she was greeted with the incredibly clean interior of a nice car. “Is this car what you were talking about?” she asked once he was seated beside her. “If it is, I can't say I'm too impressed. I've seen better.”

“No, Heather, this is not what I was talking about. Be patient.” He started the car, but before he drove anywhere he leaned onto her side and planted a small kiss on her cheek. “You will know what it is when you see it.”

Based on the events of the previous days, she should have known better than to doubt the words that Alejandro was telling her, but she doubted him anyway and was met with a huge surprise when he drove up to some new housing development and stopped the car. “Where are we? You don't live around here, do you?”

“Not yet, I do not.”

“I see, you're planning on moving close to where I live. That's wonderful. Except for the fact that it doesn't make sense for you to get a place on your own when I have a perfectly good one nearby!” She pointed out into the distance, where the faint outline of buildings could be seen. “I'm sure you know exactly where I live, so what's the deal? My place not good enough?”

“Correct. It is not good enough because it is _your_ place, not _our_ place.” The car started again and they drove into the neighborhood, where shells of half-built houses stood. “But once these are finished, one of them will be ours, so we can live together.”

She looked at him with widened eyes, unsure of how she was supposed to feel about what he was telling her. “Run that one by me again, will you?”

“With pleasure. We will be moving in to one of these homes together once they are finished. Did you understand me that time, or should I explain once more?” Without actually taking his eyes off of the road before them, he turned his head so that she could see his face, complete with pursed lips and serious expression. “I hope this is not too much of a shock to you.”

“Not a shock, I'm just stuck on the fact that the last time we were serious enough to live together, you walked out without another word. I'm not entirely sold on this plan because of that. Besides, I like my place.”

“While I respect that you have doubts about this, we have time to build our relationship back to how it was before that regrettable incident, and then make it stronger. By the time we are able to be living under the same roof, there will be no space between us at all.” The determination in his voice was hard to argue with, and even though Heather felt it was probably the worst idea that he had ever presented to her (even worse than their excursion in that airplane bathroom), his confidence that everything would be fine made her go along with him. After all, he had already done so much to make her life better, so why would this be any different?

It would be very different, but not in any negative way that would have been expected. Such a decision, especially one that came so quickly after an engagement that realistically had happened much too fast, had to have some sort of driving factor behind it. It turned out that the rushing into things was not entirely out of love, but rather a desire to please a family that wanted much more out of everything than was there. But even a pushy family understood that time was needed to make things the best they could be.

However, as was explained a few weeks later when the topic of buying a house was brought up again, the amount of time was much longer than it seemed. “My parents know that my feelings for you run deep, but they do not want me to dive into something I am not ready for. That is why all of this has to happen as I say, so that when the time comes for us to become wedded they know that you understand what it means to be part of the Burromuerto family,” Alejandro explained, as they looked over the different floor plans of the homes in the neighborhood he picked out. “So please just go along with me and do not argue.”

“What does this have to even do with picking out a house?” While she had been totally okay with all the things that had changed in her life lately, the amount of things that she was being controlled over was starting to get to Heather. “Every time we bring this up, you start talking about your family this-and-that and if I don't start getting reasons why, I think I might be the one who leaves this time.”

“Oh, you still do not get what all this is about?” He cocked his head to the side and smiled at her. “How interesting. I remember you being much more observant than this.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I'm just trying to connect dots, okay? You have gotten really, really weird and I'm pretty sure I didn't agree to marry a loon.”

“Right, right. Well, now is as good a time as any to let you in on the truth.” It was his time to sigh, although he took more of a deep breath than anything. “You see, my family is very...particular about many things. And based on what they knew of you when we first got together, they were very displeased in me for my choices, which led to me deciding that, as I loved you so, you would be better without me. Running back into each other was a pleasant coincidence, one that I had hoped would happen when I was a better man and you a better woman.”

“Great, so it wasn't just you that thought I wasn't good enough back then.”

“That is not the point I am trying to make! You were as good then as you are now, although the you beside me is much nicer to be around. But I digress. The point here is that my family never approved of you, and when they found out that I was to be pursuing you once more they told me that I have to be with you a certain amount of time before any wedding can occur.” He picked up the stack of house plans they were looking through. “And one of the keys to getting them to allow us to wed is living together. Getting to know each other as we will for the rest of our lives.”

She gagged, grabbing her throat as she did. “Whatever. This is the lamest reason I've ever heard.”

“And yet you still go along with me.”

“Yeah, because I'm pretty sure that if I put my foot down and told you to stop the crazy train, you'd leave me so fast that I could blink and miss it. Besides, if you're paying for everything, what do I have to worry about except having to share a bed with you every night?” She moved her hand back to where it had been, right next to one of his, and that was when she laced her fingers around his. “I can't complain about getting a nice, new house anyway.”

“You are so easy to please. Now just go along with everything and, if all goes as I expect it to, we should be able to gain the approval of my parents by this time, ahem, next year.” As he spoke the last few words, he looked to the floor, ashamed of what he was having to say.

And, as he figured she would, Heather reacted very badly. “Next year? Next _year_? We're rushing into all of this for something that won't possibly happen until next year? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I said it is all to please my family! I would rather never have to go back to listening to the heckling jeers of my older brother, so could you just go along with everything?” He sounded desperate, in a sincere way that seemed almost unnatural for him, and she huffily agreed to do as he said.

Within two months, the house that they picked out that day was finished and available for them to move into, a task that took several days to complete as between the two of them they had a fair amount of belongings that needed to be moved. But after everything was put into its place and their home was something for both of them to be proud of, they began to feel much more like a real couple and not two strangers who hooked up on a vacation—even though that was far from what they had ever been.

It was back to being the first month of them living together, but unlike the first time they had been in this situation, they were not as focused on the future and what they were going to do with their lives. This time, it was all about starting to plan out the ceremony that would tie them together forever, and while they couldn't get too set into details of any sorts, there was still some ability to start throwing down suggestions for what should happen when the time came. If the time ever came, she kept reminding herself, still very aware of what had happened that last time they were together like this.

One of the other things they planned was a much closer goal to reach, the one-month mark of living in their new house, and they wanted to celebrate being able to survive together for that long. On that occasion, they decided to have a dinner together, in their dining room that felt too empty for two people to eat in it regularly, and it was to be a very special moment between them. Or, at least, that was how it was planned to be. As things always happened, nothing went exactly according to the plans that had been set, not a real surprise if it wasn't for the fact that neither person was home at the time they were supposed to be.  
The first clue that something was amiss to Alejandro was when he tried to open the door as a fashionably late surprise to his lady love and found it locked. They were living in a really nice neighborhood and typically kept their front door unlocked as long as one of them was home, and while it didn't exactly click about what that meant right away, he started to suspect something wasn't quite right. When he opened the door and found the entire house to be dark and empty of any other people, he exclaimed his suspicions with a string of Spanish curses and a few kicks to the nearest wall he could find.

“How am I to surprise someone who is not even around?” he asked aloud once he had calmed down. “What is even the point of making an attempt to, if she is not present to appreciate it? I must have come in too late, and she must have decided that I was not going to come through with this commitment.” He kicked the wall a few more times, breaking through it and covering his boot in dust, but the sound of crumbling drywall made him lose the rest of his displeasure and decide to make the best of the situation. “The best” entailed doing exactly what the original plan had been, except for instead of celebrating lasting a month together in their new home, it was to celebrate himself. The candles he had bought to decorate the table were lit, the delicious food he had purchased at the nearest organic grocery was cooking, and everything was as it should have been, aside from the missing presence of one of the two people who lived there.

He was almost finished with making the meal when he heard a car pull up outside, and he walked over to the grand window that looked out over the front of the house to see what was going on. A bright purple car, with darker and lighter stripes on its sides, was parked right out front, and three of its four doors were opened. Where the people from in it were, he wasn't entirely sure, because he had a view of the yard, not the driveway or front steps, but he knew what was coming in a matter of seconds, and the front door opening wasn't the part he was most worried with.

“What the fuck happened to the wall here?” It was the first thing Heather said when she came inside, as the spot that he had decided to kick to dust was within easy view of the front door. “Did you break it?”

“Why would I ever do such a thing?” he responded, headed back to the kitchen without so much as looking at her. “Certainly I would not, unless someone decided to skip a special moment in our lives.”

“Skip a special moment...? Oh, are you talking about dinner tonight? I told you I wasn't going to be back on time. Stupid pool tournament that I had to go to. Why it couldn't have just been yesterday, I don't know.” She came bounding up the stairs, dragging with her a small bag that held everything she had needed for the overnight trip that she had just been on, and once she made it to the upper landing she took a deep breath, taking in the scents of the meal that was being prepared for her. “Looks like you forgot that I told you that I wouldn't be back until now.”

“And that is because I told you that you had to be here on time, no excuses.”

She rolled her eyes, tossing her bag onto one of the close by chairs. “I bet you weren't even here on time. How was I supposed to get back by then anyway? I know I told you that they'd be giving me a ride, and if I was there with them—“

“I said no excuses. That means stop trying to give me one.” The anger that Alejandro had tried to get rid of by destroying the wall was boiling back up inside of him, and he knew that if he kept being argued with, he was going to snap. “You arrived just in time for dinner to be served, so just shut up and appreciate what I set up for you.”

“Okay, whatever, just don't think about giving me shit about being late when you knew I was going to be stuck at that thing for Cody and Sierra until now.” He had to bite down hard on his tongue to keep himself from yelling at her for once again arguing with him, but when he turned to give her a small piece of his mind, she wasn't standing where her voice had been coming from before. If she was gone, that meant there wouldn't be any more back talk, and he relaxed, hoping that he wouldn't have the chance to get so angry again. But the second Heather came back to her original spot, in a different outfit than before, she started digging at him all over. “So what did you decide on doing? I saw candles when I went to change. You think you've got a hot date or something?”

“As a matter of fact, I do have a hot date and she is supposed to be my future wife, but not if she keeps acting like she is!”

“I'm only acting like this because you're being weird about this!” She huffed, pulling down on the little dress that she had decided to put on for the occasion. “I mean I spend the past day with a friend and someone who I wouldn't even consider a friend even if we were the last people alive, and I come home to you trying to...” Her voice trailed off as she grasped for the word that she was looking for to describe the situation, “micromanage everything!”

“I am simply trying to follow through with our plans. Kindly either change your tune or I will have to ask you to leave.” He spoke through gritted teeth, at the absolute end of his rope. When he looked to see what the choice was, he found her sitting down at the table, muttering to herself about one thing or another; it wasn't like she had stopped being upset about things, but she wasn't being loud and rude about them and he accepted that as her decision. “Thank you. Dinner should be finished shortly.”

She sighed, looking at how nicely everything was set up on the table, from the slowly-burning candles to the plates to even the flowers and neatly folded napkins. “Thanks for the warning. I'm mentally preparing myself to eat poison or something.”

“Why do you assume I am going to poison you? That would be completely pointless and not to mention extremely wrong of me.” He laughed, taking her snark as a bit of humor she was attempting to change his mood with. “I am just making some foods that I have been meaning to cook for us both.”

“I'm pretty sure you do n't need a  _ sauté _ pan to make tacos.”

His laughter ended very quickly and his eye twitched slightly. “What was that?”

“Nothing, just a little, ha, joke.” It was her time to laugh, and she did in the form of chuckles that sounded like she was trying to hide them, and with good reason. She had just done something that, added onto all the other bickering she had been doing, would had spelled certain doom for her if it wasn't for the fact that Alejandro was trying his hardest not to kill her.

“A little joke that perpetuates a stereotype that I do not appreciate! If I hear you make a comment such as that one again, you won't like the repercussions. I can guarantee that.” His voice was laced with the anger that still boiled within him, but as he finished up his cooking and carried each individual dish over to the table, he found the strength within him to calm down and show no more of that anger, especially when he looked in her direction and found her just staring at him, waiting for him to lash out further.

When everything was transported to its spot on the table, he stepped away for a quick moment, leaving her to inspect what all had been made for the occasion. Nothing in any of the bowls or pans looked like anything she had seen before, and she figured that they were special recipes that, like he had said, he had wanted to make for them. Combined, it didn't exactly have an appetizing smell, and as she looked from dish to dish she considered asking loudly if there was anything present that she would actually be interested in eating. When she started to ask, however, the soft playing of orchestral music filled the room, giving the entire setup the feel of some ritzy restaurant instead of a dimly-lit dining room with candles burning alongside strange foods.

“I hope you find everything here as you had wanted it.” A hand was gently placed on her shoulder and she looked up to find the well-dressed man it belonged to staring back at her. “I do apologize for my short temper earlier, as I had hoped this would go according to plan. Alas, things did not but we are still here, and still together.”

“Yeah, we sure are.” She smiled, trying not to scrunch her nose as the smells of the food hit her again. “Sorry about making a reference to Mexican food when you were obviously making something a bit more, uh, classy.”

“You seem like there is a problem. Do tell, is it anything I can fix?” He took his arm off of her but did not break eye contact, until she shook her head to let him know that there wasn't. “Very well then. Let me take my seat and we can get started with this meal that I so carefully prepared for us.”

She counted each of his footsteps in tune with the music that was playing, and when he got to his chair she was half-expecting everything to go from the calm and peaceful it was to something much different. Instead, the song switched to one she felt like she'd heard before, more upbeat than what came before it, and their meal began soon after.

At first, the only words they said to one another were in whispers, small things that were never meant as conversation starters. It wasn't until mid-way through the meal, while Heather was just picking at the things she had put on her plate in an attempt to eat them, that anything aside from asking for a dish to be passed was said. “Is there something wrong? You do not seem like you have eaten much, and you are really missing out.”

“There's nothing wrong, not really.” She dropped her fork on her plate, letting it clang and clatter as a stark contrast to the calm background noise. “I just don't really feel like eating fish or whatever this is.”

“That is why I made a variety of things, so you could eat whatever you wanted. I was unsure what you would be in the mood for.” He gave her a quick smile over the collection of objects on the table between them. “Try them all, they are all quite delicious.”

Much like she had when she first sat down, she sighed as she looked at everything, but when her eyes got to seeing his face she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for letting him make everything before her just for her to not want any of it. “I don't think I'm made for eating this kind of stuff. You can put this in that temple of a body of yours, but it's not going into my body.”

“Did you at least give it a try? It really is good if you get past the odd texture.”

“Oh, don't worry, I gave it a try.” She pushed her plate away from her as quietly as she could, trying to get the food and its strange smell away from her. “But don't take me not eating as meaning you don't have to. You did cook all this, after all.”

“I was never planning on stopping enjoying my own fine cooking just because you do not have refined tastes like I do.” His smile became more of a smirk, one that burned into her like a hot iron and made her want to snap; when she thought about what she could sarcastically say in response, she realized that he was doing to her exactly what she had been doing to him before, and there was no place for so much arguing in something that was supposed to look like a healthy relationship.

What she eventually said, once he had gone back to enjoying his meal, was not meant to sound like an attack on him at all, yet the way she worded it made it seem like it was. “You know, when you were looking at me just then, it was kind of attractive...until you started shooting daggers at me and we both know that is my thing. The way you do it isn't even right, and it kinda almost made me more sick than your food ever could.”

“What was that? Are you insulting me, or my cooking? Because either way, it is very rude and you should work on doing that. We are here to celebrate, remember?” Without so much as looking back up at her, he continued speaking with the intent of getting her to stop. “I understand that you do not like what I made, but you and I both are fully aware that I can glare just as well as you can, even if you are much more attractive when doing it.”

“Ugh! There you go, trying to flatter me while we're arguing! Can't you be completely objective about something for once in your life, without trying to get in my pants at the same time? I don't even think I'd let you do anything, so why bother?” She gave her plate a shove, knocking it into one of the vases that sat on the table, which toppled and sent water spilling everywhere. “I can't believe I'm actually here with you now anyway!”

“Maybe you should have thought of my flattery tactics before you accepted my proposal! If they bother you so much, that should have been something that stopped you from ever getting this far!” He didn't even bother with knocking something into one of the vases, as he simply pushed one over with his hand, this time spilling its contents straight onto the floor. “I have done nothing but try to make things work for you, and if me making comments about your beauty while we are in the middle of an argument is reason enough for you to want out of this relationship, maybe I was in the wrong when I kept from pushing you out of every airplane we have ever been in together!”

His breaths, heavy with anger aimed towards her, were long and deep, as he tried to collect himself from the outburst. At the other side of the table, Heather sat like a rock, frozen in place. Had he meant what he just said about wanting to push her out of planes?

“I thought you loved me. What would you want to do with a dead me?”

“I apologize for what I just said. It seems as if raw emotion had gotten the best of me there, and what was said was incredibly stupid and terribly foolish. I-I do love you, really.” The stutter as he stated his feelings was almost unbelievable, if it weren't for the fact that he never stuttered. Ever. When he was expressing emotion he would sometimes speak less formally, but there was never any breaking of typical language conventions. By having to repeat himself, for even a letter, he was showing weakness, a fault in someone who seemed perfect. “Now let us forget all of this ever happened, shall we?”

“So we can keep pretending that everything's fine when it's not?” She spoke quietly, not wanting to see another display of anger from his side of the table. “I'd rather us fight than pretend.”

He shook his head. “There is no reason for us to fight, _mi amor_ , much like there is no reason for us to be pretending. We are together right now to make sure everything becomes fine before the grand wedding that makes us one, and as long as we work towards that goal hand-in-hand, everything will go according to plan. These outbursts tonight were just the result of outside stresses, nothing else.”

His optimism carried him through the rest of the night, even after having to clean up the mess of not only such a large meal but also the spilling of two full vases onto plush white carpets—and while he was all smiles and happiness, there was something much different going on in her head. For how could things go according to plan when, around every corner, there were things ready to throw curve balls at them?

* * *

In an office several hours away, a woman sits, looking through stacks of documents she acquired over the past few months. There are pictures, diagrams, even spending records. She flips through them with a serious expression, very obviously looking for something in particular. It is easy to tell when she finds what she's searching for, when she lets out a laugh that borders on maniacal. From inside the stack, she pulls out what looks like a bill of purchases, dated for some time recent, and places it on top, before standing and walking out of the office, shutting the light off behind her.

Whatever it was needed to wait for the perfect time.

 


	4. The C Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things happen in people's lives, but keeping secrets and making plans are not things that should be done in what should be a healthy relationship. Then again, this relationship was never exactly healthy to begin with.

Time spent in the purple car with the different stripes was normally for two reasons: one was as transport to and from different pool halls across the country, and the other was for deep discussions between Heather and Cody, who had become the unlikeliest of friends after several years of actually getting to know each other. On this occasion, it was a combination of the two reasons, and for the most part, having Sierra actually present for a discussion in her car wasn't that bad of an idea. That was, until certain things were brought up that she had never heard been talked about in detail before then.

“He's gotten really, and I mean really, obsessed with knowing where I am and when I'll be places. It's starting to drive me a bit crazy, and I've called him out on it since, hey, he disappears more than I do and at least I'm with you two when I'm elsewhere.” Taking a deep sigh and a moment to look out the window at the buildings surrounding the car, Heather thought a bit about Alejandro and how, even though most of her did love him, there were still parts of her that distrusted his every move. “But he's gotten so unreasonable lately and I'm not sure why that is.”

“I think it might be because you're giving him a lot more power than anyone should have over you.” All of Cody's input in any conversation like this was as distrustful as it could get, because even years and years later, he still held shreds of resentment towards the guy who cost him a chance at a million dollars. Said guy having already been responsible for breaking the heart of one of his best friends once was just icing on the hatred cake. “Or maybe it's because he's a terrible guy who needs to learn what being decent is like.”

Sierra, her hands gripping the steering wheel as if it was trying to fly away, shrugged her shoulders as she had no real clue as to what was going on. “Could I maybe get some details as to what's going on? I know the whole 'got engaged in Vegas' part, because hello, I'm like the best at finding those kinds of things out. But I don't know much else and that doesn't work for me.”

“You know, maybe there's a reason you don't know much else, and maybe that reason is that I can't trust that you won't put my secrets out on the internet.”

“Puh-leese, do you really think anyone cares about your secrets? After the news that you and Al did some very bad things on that plane, everyone kind of...stopped caring about you anymore. You're old news.” She giggled to herself, stopping once she snorted. “But if you told me something good, maybe the site hits would go up again. But probably not. No one likes to read about a whore.”

From her designated spot in the back seat of the car, pool cues under her feet, Heather audibly gasped. “A whore? For doing something that so many other women would have done if they had been in that situation? That's so dumb! Besides, I hooked up with him afterward, and I doubt any other woman would have gotten a ring from him like I did. People should _care_ about my life!”

“Yet you don't want me putting your secrets online. I get it. You want them to have to wait until someone professional gets the scoop, but I'll have you know that I run more Total Drama blogs than there have been contestants on the show, and if you don't think I'm worthy of knowing a thing or two about your post-show life, maybe you can just get out of my car and walk.” Without so much as a warning, Sierra veered the car to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes to stop. “Now what's it going to be, a ride and some secrets, or getting kicked out?”

“I'll tell you secrets, I guess. Not because I don't want to walk, but because I don't want you to gloat that you actually got rid of me, sorta.” Heather sighed, propping her head up against the window as they started moving again. “So what is it that you want to hear, since there's obviously something?”

“Well...” Sierra drew the word out to three syllables, but before she finished her sentence she was distracted by the lack of ambient noise that wasn't the sound of the motor running. “Before we get to business, I think I need to turn on some music.”

“Please don't say you mean the Canada playlist.”

“Oh Cody-kins, you know I always mean the Canada playlist. Could you put it on for me, since a good driver never takes her hands off the wheel when in motion?” Batting her eyelashes to seem more convincing, she got Cody to do what she asked without much argument. Once the sound of pop hits from across decades began to play, her face broke into a huge grin. “Much better! Listening to people tell me things goes over so much better when the songs of some of my idols are on!”

“Let me guess, you're hoping that, as I'm telling you about my life and problems in as much detail as you want, there's something classy playing in the background. Like Bieber or something.” Saying the name of that terrible musician, if he could even be considered that, sent a small shudder down Heather's spine. “I mean, you called it your Canada playlist, right?”

“Uh, I'm pretty sure if he's considered 'classy' then I don't want to ever listen to music again. This is just all my favorite artists and all their good songs, that's all. You've heard this before with us, remember?”

“Have I? Hm, must have forgotten about that.”

Cody looked back and started shaking his head rapidly, trying to get her to stop before Sierra got started. “Don't make any comments about the music. The last thing we need right now is to hear her go on and on about the time she me—“

“This is no time for silly side conversations, my sweet Cody! Sit straight in your seat and let us ladies talk about what's important!” He grumbled about how he didn't need to be babied like that but did as he was told, and soon Sierra's eyes were looking into the back seat through the rear view mirror. “Okay, so I know I said I knew about you getting engaged, but can I, like, please get some details about it? I know you told my Cody what happened, but his lips are sealed on the matter and I just need to know.”

“Maybe his lips are sealed because I asked him nicely to not tell you. But whatever, guess you're going to hear it from the source.” Taking several deep breaths to prepare herself for all of the explaining she was about to do, Heather was about to start talking about what had happened when she was interrupted by the person in the know in the front.

“She's not telling you anything, Sierra. You and I both know you're just trying to get more hits on your sites, and you can't do this to her. Not to someone who comes with us to all these tournaments I go to.” Cody grabbed Sierra's arm, causing her to spend the next few moments adjusting what direction the car was moving in. “Now if you promised not to put anything online, not even that you learned these things, maybe you can hear stuff.”

Sierra let out a high-pitched whine, one that drowned out every bit of the music she was playing. “But I have to let my viewers know, even if they don't care!”

“You let your viewers know what you're told they can know. That means _no_ special secret news, got it?”

“Special secret news?” As quickly as she had been upset, her mood turned around and Sierra was almost bouncing in her seat, her hands still glued to the steering wheel. “There's special secret news and the best sleuth when it comes to ex-reality show contestants doesn't even know it? I must get this scoop, and now!”

“Didn't I just say she's not telling you anything?”

“You did, but then you mentioned secrets and news and I kinda got too invested in finding out to care that you said I can't know anything. It's not like it could be anything big, anyway.” She bounced a bit more, hoping that her excitement would coax whatever news there was out. It didn't, much to her disappointment.

Instead of news, she got a recounting of everything that had happened since the actually quite cheesy and romantic proposal on the boat to the present moment, courtesy of a Heather that did not seem to want to say much more than the very basic details. Once she reached their current time, a few weeks later than the dinner date gone wrong, she finished with a boring conclusion: “That's all, nothing more, nothing less, and if there is anything else, you're not going to hear it from me. Got it?”

“I got it, but one teeny question. About something you skipped that any average listener to the story wouldn't have caught.” The way Sierra's voice had changed pitch as she spoke brought worry to the other two passengers, but she was granted permission to ask her question regardless. “So he forced you into living with him, right?”

“Yeah. He bought a house, we moved both of our things into it, and now we're living together. I know I told you that.” There was a hint of exasperation to Heather's tone, which had been bored for the entirety of her story. “What's your point?”

“Hold on, miss impatient storyteller! I'm getting there, sheesh!” The way Sierra was behaving, the only thing keeping her from being left for dead on the side of the road was the fact that she was driving, and even then it was a very weak reason for Heather to not just lunge forward and take control of the car herself. But it was a reason nonetheless, and so she stayed put and endured more of the terrible music playing and the rambling up front. “You guys are sharing a bed, yeah? And obviously have slept together before, but that's not relevant.”

“Okay, I don't know where this is going, but I'm starting to wish you had left me back in that town back there. Yes, we share a bed. What is your point?”

“Stop asking, I said I'm getting there!” There was excitement building in Sierra, evidenced by the return of her bouncing and chipper voice. “You said his parents are why you have to be together, blah blah, year or something, right? What are they going to think when they find out you two are hav—“

Instead of grabbing her arm like he had before, this time Cody threw his hand over Sierra's mouth to shut her up mid-sentence. “Don't ask something like that! I knew you were going to go weird places with this freedom. Once we get to the hall, me and you are going to have a serious talk about your boundaries when it comes to talking to my friends. Last time it was you badgering Gwen about all the boys she's kissed, and this time it's you asking Heather about having babies!”

In the back seat, Heather tried to make herself as small as possible, especially with the topic that had somehow managed to come up. “I don't know how you could even assume that I'm pregnant, but that fact stays in this car. No one else needs to know.”

Sierra bit Cody's hand, getting him to cringe in pain and let go of her mouth, just so she could gasp and speak. “I was only going to ask about how they'd feel when they found out about you having sex, but oh-em-gee, this is much more exciting than that ever could be! A baby! The first confirmed Total Drama baby so far!”

“Y-you mean you weren't going to ask about that?” Cody's voice was barely above a whisper, and was shaking as he spoke. “Did I j-just let you know that on accident?”

“Yep! Aw, I knew that that's where the secret special news you were talking about was going to lead, but I didn't know finding out would be this satisfying!” She squealed, and over both the music, which was currently some sappy love song, and the sound of Sierra's loud celebration, Cody turned in his seat and attempted to apologize to Heather for what had just happened.

But she wasn't hearing any of it, as she had completely spaced out and was trying to mentally grasp the repercussions of letting Sierra know any news of that size. By the end of the night, if it even took that long, everyone who frequented any of her fan pages would know, and who knew who would see the news on there. And maybe, just maybe, someone who would see would tell Alejandro, who surprisingly enough was still in the dark about it. How he hadn't been able to tell that something was off about her, especially after the incident with her lack of appetite back at that failed dinner date, was beyond her, but he didn't know and she didn't want to have to be the one to tell him.

“I just can't believe that it's you and him hitting this mark in a relationship first.” Sierra's gushing brought Heather's mind back down to earth, and reminded her that there was going to be a very serious problem if Sierra became the one responsible for letting _her_ _fiancé_ know that he was going to be a father. “I could have sworn it was going to be someone, uh, less responsible. Like Geoff and Bridgette. Or, heh, me and my Codykins.”

“Whoa there Sierra! We aren't even actually together!”

“True love will find a way.” The eyebrow waggle that Sierra did was visible in the mirror, and Cody groaned, burying his face in his hands. “You know that you'll want me someday, when you realize that I am your most loyal fan, your roommate, and I take you everywhere. It's a wonder we haven't started dating yet.”

“Uh, before you two lovebirds start having a lovers' spat up there, can I please get a promise that what was said stays in this car? Please?” Her plea fell on deaf ears, or rather ears that were more focused on being part of an argument about the will-they or won't-they status of their relationship, something that virtually sealed the deal when it came to the world finding out about the news. “Oh, whatever. I know you're going to post it as soon as we're parked.”

She was right. No sooner than when the car had found its destination and was shut off did Sierra pull out her phone and start typing a small novel on her touch keyboard, even while walking towards the entrance of a somewhat dingy billiards hall. As she walked, she left the other two people who had been along for the ride still in the car, both silent and not talking to each other, not even when Cody needed his pool cues out from under Heather's feet. It seemed as if they both respected that they had both been responsible for Sierra learning—Cody because he had assumed what she was going to say and Heather because she confirmed it—but they had no intentions of actually letting the other know that they knew it was both their faults. When they both got into the pool hall, they were greeted by a grinning Sierra phone still in her hand. “Guess what? Sixty hits already and the news didn't even break thirty seconds ago! I think it's a new record or something. How exciting.”

“It's not exciting when I didn't want anyone to know except those who needed to know. And even then I wasn't too sure about letting them know.” Heather glared in Cody's direction, while he was setting his belongings up against a wall. “But now I've learned a very valuable lesson: never trust someone you think is your friend, because he'll tell his gossip-y girlfriend everything when she's not supposed to know it.”

“First, Sierra isn't my girlfriend. Second, I didn't think I was telling her! I thought she was going to say it and I stopped her before she got the chance. How was I supposed to know she was going to repeat something we already knew?”

“She's not observant enough to know these kinds of things, that's how!” He rolled his eyes at her, grabbing one of his cues to practice some shooting, somewhere far away from the two ladies. As he left, she couldn't help but make one last dig at him. “Yeah, that's right, leave me alone with the person who's responsible for ruining my life.”

Sierra's phone buzzed in her hand as she scrolled through what seemed like endless notifications of views on what she had just posted. “I can hear you trying to insult me, but let it be known that I am an excellent fact-finder, and if I had wanted to jump to conclusions I would have been able to because I noticed from the moment we picked you up that there is something different about you. I think it's your clothing. You look more modest, which reminds me, can I get a picture of you? This blog post would be so much more believable if I could have photographic proof that I heard the news from the source.”

“Um, no. You will be getting no pictures. In fact, you'll be getting nothing from me. Not even a birth announcement or anything like that.” No sooner had the words left Heather's lips did she regret ever even thinking of mentioning anything baby-related around Sierra again. Squeals and screams began coming from the taller woman, and it started to attract the attention of other people in the building. “Hey, stop that, I said you wouldn't get anything. That means this isn't the time to celebrate, or whatever the fuck it is you're doing.”

“I'm just so, so, so happy for you! Even if the baby's dad is going to be someone that I can't get behind liking, that was your decision when you slept with him. I want to be the godmom, by the way! Can you see it now, me getting the first pictures of whatever the little one's going to be, and posting them on my blog as an exclusive? Oh man I just can't wait!” More squealing ensued, causing Heather to cover her ears and grumble about how she was being ignored. “I bet you're more excited than me, somewhere deep inside. Maybe you should try smiling and then the excitement will come out.”

“It's kind of hard to be excited about something that's going to ruin my life.”

“Ruin your life?” Sierra stopped squealing and took her phone out of her line of sight, to see how unhappy her companion looked. “I'm pretty sure babies only ruin the lives of people who aren't in stable relationships, and from what all I've heard, yours seems pretty stable.”

She grumbled a bit more, this time in such a way that she could be understood. “I hooked up with him, got engaged after like a week, ended up having to move in with him to please his family and ever get the chance of getting married, and now we're going to have a brat to take care of before we can even have a wedding. Does that sound stable to you?”

“It sounds better than not having anyone who loves you, but I don't know. I'm not an expert on relationships that go beyond the occasional kiss.” The phone started buzzing again and Sierra's attention went straight back to checking the notifications on it, laughing to herself about some of the things she saw. Being ignored for the sake of a phone almost made Heather walk away and find some dark corner to sit in and regret ever agreeing to come to this place, but when she motioned to take a step away a tanned hand found itself on her shoulder. “Someone thinks I'm making up things for views. Can I please get a picture of you to prove that it's the truth?”

She rolled her eyes, but did not deny Sierra of her request again. “I guess a picture couldn't hurt that badly. I mean, what's there going to be to actually prove your point? It's just going to be me, in a picture, looking like I always do.”

“I don't know, some of these people are really observant. Maybe they'll be able to spot the slight glow coming off of you that is a total dead giveaway that you're having a baby.” Sierra laughed, and fairly soon after they were posing for a picture together, as she felt it was most believable if they were in the shot together to guarantee the accuracy of the news. Once the picture was taken and they were looking at it, Heather couldn't help but wonder if maybe Sierra was right. Was it possible to tell that she was speaking the truth just by looking at a simple picture?

There wasn't any time to determine that, however, as right after the picture was posted and the hungry fans satiated that the main event of the afternoon was beginning, and even though one of them didn't care what was going on and the other was mad at the person participating, they had to cheer for who they were there to support. Pool didn't always make sense, but it was something that Cody had always loved and his determination to become the best in the country at it was supported by his friends every step of the way, no matter what.

At some point, during a break between two of the games Cody had to play in, his phone began ringing and he disappeared for a few moments to take care of whatever it was that needed him. When he reappeared, he made a beeline for the two ladies who had been watching him. “You two wouldn't mind hanging out with someone for me while I finish up here, would you?” he asked, hoping that at least one person would give him a positive response.

“Depends on who and why, I guess. And if you've let your loose lips tell them my secret already.” Her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face, Heather did nothing but glare at Cody, who sheepishly scuffed the floor with one of his feet. “Oh, great, they know, don't they?”

“Not because of me saying anything! I just got a call from Gwen about how she saw the news online, and she wanted to see if I knew about it...so I might have told her that she could hear it from you.”

Of all of the people to have to tell, face-to-face, about the situation, Gwen was never one that Heather thought would so much as want to know. Yet within the hour, there she was, sitting at a table in the dark pool hall in between the two ladies that had been there, asking questions that would inevitably lead up to talking about the secret that Sierra had so graciously shared with the internet. “So let me get this straight, you, the strong independent woman who would never let anyone walk over her, got walked all over by that manipulative jerk?” The summary was about the most accurate retelling of everything that happened from the show's finish to the events in Vegas, so Heather nodded in agreement, allowing Gwen to continue. “And then you _fell_ for him?”

“I'll admit, it was a bit of a dumb move on my part, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for having everything bought for me.”

“That's such a bad reason to agree to be with someone for the rest of your life.” Gwen clicked her tongue in disapproval. “But, okay, at least you two are planning on being together, so this shouldn't throw too much of a wrench in your plans.”

Sierra interjected at this point, beginning her bouncing again. “You forgot to ask about the proposal! Ooh that's my favorite part of the story, and when Codykins told me it I couldn't help but scream in excitement for them! While I wouldn't want to be proposed to on a boat, because that's kinda lame, okay? I would so want to be somewhere near water! I'm thinking Niagara Falls, because that's where our kinda wedding was, but I'm up for anything.”

“Wait, did she say it was on a boat?” The look in Gwen's eyes was one of confusion and slight surprise. “He dragged you onto one of those boats there and decided that was the place to be the most romantic?”

“It was on a boat. I think it _had_ to be on the boat. He took me to the top of the Eiffel Tower there every single night, and that was so much more romantic than the boat was, but it wasn't my place to decide where he chose to ask me to marry him. I just got a nice ring out of the deal.” That was when Heather placed her hand down on the table, allowing the other two to see the large, and pricey, ring on her finger. “So yeah, it had to be on the boat.”

“You really would do anything for a piece of jewelry that nice wouldn't you?” When she said that yes, she indeed would, Gwen laughed. “Wow, now I wish I had a time machine to go back and bribe you with something fancy like that to get you to stop hating me.”

It got a laugh out of Sierra as well, who nearly bounced herself out of her seat from all her excitement in the past several hours. “I still can't believe that you see anything but evil in him. I mean, come on! He's worse than you ever were at your worst, and you were really bad. I've watched all the things you did to Gwen like a million times or something like that and you were just awful. And now you're going to marry the one guy who could out-bad you any day of the week.”

“I can't help but be attracted to him, especially when he uses things I like against me. But whatever. Can we be done talking about this and move on to something much more pressing? Or can we skip talking about that too because, I'm sorry, but Sierra's little internet freak out about it may have ruined my life more than the baby itself could.” Cue glaring in the direction of the person still bouncing in her seat with incredible enthusiasm. “Ugh, she's so excited about this.”

“She got to break the news to a public that's oddly still obsessed with all of us. I'm pretty sure I'd be excited too, if I cared that much.”

“You cared enough to read about it. Which, by the way, how weird did she get in her post about it?Not like I really care, since she still posted it after I told her not to, but I've got to know how much lying she did.” The glaring continued, but was softened when Gwen convinced Sierra to hand over her phone with the damning blog post that started this conversation. Sentence after sentence, paragraph after rambling paragraph, the entire incident from the car ride was documented in a writing style that made Heather's head hurt trying to understand it, but the more she read, the less angry about it being posted she got. By the time it was over, and the part about it being the first known kid of anyone on the show was read, there was no animosity about it being online. There was only fear.

What kind of way would it be for Alejandro to find out that he was going to be having a kid if he read it online?

* * *

The scene is the same, an office, except this time other people are present. Not in this particular room, but on the other side of the door. Things are bustling, busy, and pretty soon this room too will be alive with the sounds of angered people wanting to know why things cost them so much, and how to take care of them while getting double money back. The same woman sits at the desk, reading over some sort of legal document, laughing as she goes. The doorknob shakes and she freezes, shoving the paper into the stack before her.

As the door opens, someone shouts inside, “If I catch you narrating your weird actions one more time, you might need to start looking for a new place for your internship!”

Now is not the time for any of her shenanigans.

* * *

By the time the tournament concluded for the day, the sun was setting behind buildings and the group had to decide what to do for the night. Going home wasn't an option, as play resumed early in the morning and Cody insisted that everyone be there when it happened, which meant that Heather had a bit more time to come up with some personal way to tell her future husband the big news. It also meant that she didn't have a care as to what they ended up doing, as long as she didn't have to be subjected to another game of twenty questions to pass the time.

“I think we should go get something to eat, and decide what to do from there. My place isn't too far from here, and most of us have spent a night or two on that couch of mine, so between that and the floor there's enough places for all of us to sleep.” Gwen shrugged, unlocking the door to her midnight blue car. “But you don't have to stay with me tonight. We can decide that at dinner, can't we?”

“I think we can. Let's get a move on, because let me tell you, playing in that place really makes a man hungry.” Since Sierra had already gotten into her driver's seat and was beginning to rev the engine to her car, Cody tried to make the decision for where to go to eat quickly. “Some of those guys in there were mentioning a really good seafood place right around the corner, and I'd like to try it out. They say eating there brings people good luck.”

“Uh, but it's seafood. Can't do it.”

He was climbing into his seat, but froze mid-motion to give Heather a curious look. “What do you mean, you can't? We go to places like that all the time and you're fine with it.”

“Just thinking about smelling fish is making me sick. Can we please not go there?” She indignantly shook her head, and refused to move an inch from where she stood, especially after Sierra yelled for her to just get in the car so they could go. “I'm not going. Nope. Leave me here.”

There was no problem with the occupants of the purple car in leaving her, evidenced by them starting to back out of their parking spot without her inside. “Okay, hey, we'll go somewhere else so that they can have their good luck meal or whatever.” Gwen, from inside her car, motioned to all of her empty seats. “We can't just leave you here because you're against what they want. Get in and we'll find somewhere that sounds good to you, okay?” Since the idea of sleeping outside in a sketchy area didn't sound even slightly appealing to her, she jumped at the chance to get a ride somewhere better, even if it was with a friend of a friend who had never exactly been _her_ friend.

While the purple car went one way, the blue one went another, headed towards the sunset and the colorful horizon. “Why are you being nice to me? If I was you and you were me, I doubt I'd be nice to you. I'd probably just laugh at you and leave you in the dust.” Heather fidgeted as she spoke, clearly uncomfortable with how nice and open someone who once had been her worst enemy was being to her. “Are you planning on wrecking this car and killing us? Is that it?”

“Trust me, if I was planning on killing you I wouldn't do it with Cody and Sierra waiting to meet up with us somewhere. Not like I ever plan those kinds of things, anyway. You're having one of those days where you just need someone around for you, and sometimes the person you need isn't who you'd expect it to be.” They slowed down as the car approached a light, and once they were stopped Gwen turned to her passenger and gave her a once-over. “For it having been so long since I last saw you, you look really good. Still like the bitch that tormented me, but really good.”

“Thanks, I think. You still look like you're in a goth phase, but you've really managed to make it work.”

“Backhanded compliments are still compliments, so I'll take that. If you were meaning that as an insult, do you really need that final nail in the coffin of your day today? Did you wake up this morning realizing that today was the day you insulted the last person who would try to have your back in a bad situation?” The light changed so Gwen had to focus on the road once more, but she still continued to talk. “We weren't friends back then, but then again I never really had friends and neither did you. Something's brought us together now though, and why can't we try to make it work between us?”

“We'll see what happens. Where are you taking me, anyway? You haven't so much as bothered asking what I want—which, uh, I don't want anything. So can we just go back?” On top of the fidgeting, there was a slight air of panic coming from Heather's side of the car. “I really don't want to die like this, in a car with you.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “I'm not going to kill you! We're just going to my place. I'll tell the others to meet us there when they're done, and hopefully they won't smell like fish or shrimp or whatever they're going to be eating, so that they don't bother you too much with their scent. Although, by the way you're acting, I don't think it's the scent that's going to be what bothers you. I think it's going to be seeing Sierra.”

“What are you talking about? Sure, that psycho posted my story online without permission, but at least she didn't send it directly to anyone. I've got no problems with her.” Talking about the situation left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she gagged because of it. “Okay, maybe I have a small problem with her.”

“Don't worry, it's not like it was completely obvious or anything.” She laughed, which made Heather feel a bit more comfortable being in the same vehicle as her. “While we're without them, why don't you catch me up on the entire story? I'd like to hear about what happened between the proposal that 'had to' happen in a boat until now.”

“You know what? That sounds like something I might be able to do for you, since you did sorta save me from another car ride with crazy Sierra.”

* * *

The door to the office swings open inward, and someone comes walking in, but the woman at the desk is too busy looking at something on her phone to notice their arrival. “You know, it is quite strange that you narrate things when you are doing them,” the person says, alerting the woman to their presence. “I would like it if you stopped that while I am around, even if you are doing them because of what I asked you to do.”

From that moment on, Courtney's thoughts were not focused on herself, but rather the situation at hand: for the past several months, she had been working hard on something that someone, or, rather, the person on the other side of the desk, had requested of her. But while looking through each piece of information she had been given on the topic, she had found some interesting tidbits about the lives of people she had never been interested in since the end of their stint as reality show contestants.

“I'll stop with the narrating, if you'll stop with the relationship with that witch,” she said, looking from her phone to the other person present. “Because, let me tell you, you could do so much better than someone as icky as Heather. Like me. You could be with me.”

“Real cute, but I think that my choice in romance is not anything you have any say in. You are simply supposed to be helping me with making my life with her as perfect as it can be, not judging it. Now what do you have for me this week? Something helpful, I presume?” As he spoke, Alejandro had gotten himself comfortable in one of the chairs opposing Courtney, resting his elbows on the desk she sat at. “Or are you once again going to be a waste of my time and resources? Should I begin searching for someone else to do this job?”

“No, and no! I get one client to myself for training purposes, and if I lose you I'll lose my internship here! Do you think other places will hire me?” He stared blankly at her as she sputtered, “Wait, yeah, they will, since I was a CIT and have precious experience, but you can't leave and let me become a failure at something! I've got some things for you, if that's what you really want.”

“I did not drive over two hours to receive nothing.”

“Right, right, whatever. Here, read this. Someone sent this to me and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what it says.” She slid him her phone and he read what was on the screen; while it easily could have been Sierra's post from earlier that very same day, it was something less condemning, something less newsworthy, and something much more related to Courtney's actual purpose in Alejandro's life, which was being the one responsible for planning the wedding of his dreams. She wasn't making him read anything that would clue him in to his fiancée's secret.

She was making him read something about discounted hotel rooms in exotic locations for the following year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And how about that for a ride of twists? This is probably my favorite chapter thus far, and for many reasons, the biggest one being that it brings this fic into the category of so many others of mine. That's exciting to me.


	5. Burn the Bridges You Build

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are secrets to be kept, or told, depending on who's the one holding the secret. And when things go bad, there's always someone around to make things better--that is, unless they have other motives. But who really knows what side anyone's on anymore? All that's clear is that romance ain't what it used to be.

One day, every single week since the beginning of the engagement, Alejandro had made the drive from wherever he was to the little town where Courtney had found a law firm willing to have her as part of their team as an intern. This came after months and months of talking to her through whatever channels were available at that moment, preparing what was to come and making sure that absolutely no legal rights were being infringed on (or, anyway, that is what Courtney said, but the level of information she had been grabbing was more than infringing on rights), and so once everything had gone as planned and there was something more to set up, she became the closest of allies in the situation.

“Are you liking what you're seeing?” she sweetly asked, batting her eyelashes as she did. “If you don't like any of those choices, I bet I could find some that are better. More expensive. More money to sue back if you get unfairly stripped of it.”

“I feel you are getting too invested in the plans for after the ceremony. Right now we need to focus on getting _to_ the moment where she and I become one, and destination resorts are not anything that matter at this moment.” Alejandro shoved the phone back to Courtney, who grabbed it and huffed as she changed whatever was on the screen. “Now if you do not have anything else worth sharing, I will leave and come back same time next week.”

She laughed, something foreboding coming from someone who once was so sweet—a change that happened over the past several years of schooling, working, and abandonment from everyone that had liked her at one point or another. “Oh, I have something for you all right. But if I show you it now, you might change your plans and I don't think I want to risk you leaving and me losing my one client.”

“Surely whatever it is you have to show me is not that bad.” He was soon forced to eat his words as he was handed back the phone and this time, on the screen, a blog post that had been circulating online was on the screen, topped with an “exclusive” picture of Heather (with Sierra right next to her) and talking about some sort of big news that was the first of its kind. His eyebrows furrowed as he kept reading the rambling on and on about how the news was brought up, and how it was so exciting and everything. Before he got to the end of the post, he threw the phone down, shattering the screen, and Courtney smirked even though her phone was destroyed. “How dare she not tell me! Do you know what this means?”

“That you need to find a way to kill her and the kid before it's too late?”

Apparently the suggestion was even too extreme for someone who had just broken someone else's property, because he shook his head. “No, never that! I need you to assist me in changing these plans, convincing my parents to change their minds, and get this wedding to happen before her child, no, _my_ child, is born. I cannot let my parents, ugh,” he shuddered, stopping his sentence for a moment to collect himself, “find out about this, nor can I knowingly allow there to be a bastard child that sullies not only my reputation, but the good Burromuerto name!”

“And you think that just marrying her will change the fact that this is happening?”

“No, and when did I ever say that? I understand that it is going to be known that she and I have committed a foul that cannot be taken back, but by attempting to fix the problem, we will not receive so much scorn from everyone else. You will help with fixing this, correct?” The way he asked her, almost dropping his normal levels of pride to the point of begging, was hard to resist.

That was why Courtney agreed to assist him with whatever it was that he'd need her to do, but the moment he left she groaned and picked up the shattered remains of her phone. “I can't believe he thinks a stupid ceremony will fix things,” she grumbled, trying to get her screen to recognize that she was touching it. “But what am I supposed to do about it? I'm not going to break the law and lose this internship to help him out.”

As she sat at her desk, pondering what the proper course of action to take would be, she hoped that things would be able to resolve themselves without her intervention, because her only suggestion was not one to be taken lightly.

* * *

Much like the night with the failed romantic dinner, it wasn't until late in the evening that Heather was dropped off at the house, but unlike the previous time, it wasn't the purple car that brought her home. Instead, it was the midnight blue one, driven by someone who actually ended up being fun to ride along with. “Let me know how telling him goes, will you?” Gwen smiled as she spoke through the open window of her car's door. “If it goes sour, just let me know. You saw my place, you know I've got somewhere for you to sleep.”

“Thanks. I'll be sure to call you right away when things go perfectly and laugh at how you're still so negative.” While it sounded like it was an insult, there was nothing mean at the heart of what she said, for the entire time they had been in the vehicle together, they had discussed what could possibly happen once she stepped inside that door, and things going okay was the most unlikely of all the options. “Don't leave too quickly, in case I need to come running back to you like some loser.”

“Ha, got it. I'll stick around, not because I think you're a loser, but because that guy in there is one and I don't want him hurting you.” They exchanged waves, before the car slowly drove off down the road, leaving Heather to heavily sigh as she just stood in front of the house, dreading moving any closer to the door than she already was. Whatever was about to happen had a million possibilities and she could only imagine which one was going to become reality once she stepped inside and came to face the one person who didn't know what was going on.

The second she closed the door behind her once she made it inside, he was grabbing her into a big hug and talking a mile a minute, not everything he was saying in a language she understood. “Uh, is this some new way of saying hello?” she asked, trying to shake him off of her. “Because you've never clung to me like this after one night apart.”

“ _Mi amor_ , I am so sorry, I did not intend to startle you with this behavior, but I just could not hold back my emotions on this matter once I saw you after I learned. Why was I not informed of this sooner?” He let go of her, aside from one hand grasping hers in a tight squeeze. “You must explain to me why you told Sierra before anyone else.”

“...Oh fuck no. You read that?” He enthusiastically nodded and she groaned, mentally letting loose a string of curses that would make even the rudest of sailors blush. “W-what she posted was a bunch of lies! I'd never dream of hiding something like that from you, promise!”

“Your recent purchases would say otherwise.” A worrying feeling filled her as he gripped her hand tighter. “While I never had any reason to suspect you were hiding something from me, when I was sh—er, when I saw what Sierra wrote, I had to do some of my own investigating.”

“So you breached my privacy to see what I've been buying lately? Can you say controlling?”

He let go of her hand, just to wrap his arm around her and place his palm on the very slight curve of her stomach, something unnoticeable without pushing her shirt tightly against her skin. “I would agree that it is a bit extreme, but the desire to know if what I read about you was true or not trumped any sense of right and wrong.”

“Well Sierra's nothing but a liar, so maybe you should listen to me and drop the subject.” Using both hands, she pried his arm off of her, hoping he hadn't noticed what she was sure he was feeling for. It wasn't much, not yet, but it was something different about her that someone who saw her nearly every day would catch. “Or maybe I'll let someone know that you're doing some serious stalking to find out if rumors are true or not, when you could just ask me!”

“I know, I resorted to something drastic and I am quite ashamed of it. But the well-being of the woman I want to soon call my wife matters more to me than any sort of laws.” Knowing that most physical contact with her would be fought at all costs, Alejandro decided it would be best to just step away and try to verify the facts without touching her at all. But stepping away gave her the chance to bolt up the stairs, leaving him to chase her much like had several times before. “Heather, wait, you cannot leave this conversation at this!” he called after her, as she slammed the door to their bedroom. “You must confirm or deny what was written!”

“Leave me alone!” she responded, throwing her bag of clothes onto the floor. “I don't want to talk about this with you right now!”

He was at the door, shaking the handle in an attempt to open it, but she had thought ahead and locked it on him. “Your refusal to say anything more than call one of your friends a liar is a dead giveaway that you are withholding the truth from someone who should have been first to know.”

“She isn't my friend! She's a fucking life-ruining, lie-spewing, ignorant...ugh!” Unable to finish her angry rant due to being overcome with pure rage, she decided to bury herself in the pillows on the bed instead of continue with the conversation. For the next half hour or so of the night, the only noises she made were screams at no one in particular, with the occasional threat being thrown out that she had no intentions of ever following through with. And for that same amount of time, he stood at the other side of the door, trying to get in to have a civil discussion about what they had been rather irrationally fighting about.

When she calmed down enough to let him in, the first thing he did was grab her into yet another hug. “Please, stop lying to me and to yourself, and admit what we both know is true.”

“And why should I do that?”

“It will make you feel better, I assure you.” His fingers ran through her long, silky hair and she sniffled into his shoulder, going from one strong emotion to another in a matter of moments. By the time tears started to fall and she was reduced to babbles of unintelligible words, there had been no progress in her admitting about the situation, but based on what happened, it was all too obvious. “Here, you should lay down to collect yourself,” he said as he slowly walked her back to the bed and got her into a laying position, him taking a place right next to her. “Now calm down and when you are capable of words, tell me the truth. Tell me what I want to hear.”

Her response was slow coming, as she had to stop her babbling and compose herself slightly to speak, and once she did her words were still shaky. “Y-you want to hear it?” When he nodded as he gently stroked her tear-stained cheeks, she realized that it was for the best that she got saying it over with and dealt with the consequences that were to follow. “Okay, I-I guess what Sierra wrote was true...”

“And why would you tell her before you told me? Does our relationship and our impending wedding mean nothing to you?”

“I d-didn't intend to let her know, okay? I was going to tell you soon enough, b-but it looks like she got to it before me!” After taking a few deep breaths to keep herself from veering back into the territory of garbled language and crying, she continued. “Oh, and d-don't hold that wedding over my head. I'd say that impending parenthood comes way before any stupid ceremony.”

Apparently, wincing as a response to hearing that was the worst thing Alejandro could have done in the situation, because when he drew back slightly from his position, Heather started to snap at him about how he was not taking things seriously at all. “I am taking things very seriously! Please rethink what you just said!”

“About w-what? The fact that you've been doing all this talking about a grand wedding with everyone imaginable there, and all of this and so much of t-that, and I'm not even going to _think_ about showing up to that looking like a big, ugly, stupid beached whale!” The sadness had subsided and the rage was burning within her once more, and she put her hands into fists, just to punch halfheartedly at who was beside her. “So you can change your plans all you want, but they better be for pushing the wedding date back!”

“Pushing the date back? That is never going to happen, not when I have a family name to honor and I would never be able to live with myself if I let something such as your vanity ruin the one thing that will always belong to me!” She punched at him again and he grabbed her fists, stopping her before she could land blows of any sort. “Now let us discuss this realistically, shall we? The wedding must happen as soon as possible, and with good reason, so that the life that we unintentionally created within you is not born a bastard. Do you agree with me?”

“No, I don't fucking agree with you. There is so much wrong with your argument, just like there is so much wrong with your stupid face, and your dumb body, and everything about you!” The last part was said as she forcefully rolled herself on top of him, pinning him down as best as someone her size could to someone his size. “This isn't the time for discussing this, though. You know what we should do, since we're already fucked in more than one sense?”

It wasn't clear what had triggered the switch from angry to aggressive, but there wasn't any arguing with it, and they quickly went from fighting to stripping each other down and doing to one another what life was trying to do to them, with the intent that letting off whatever desires they had between them would allow for their arguing to be more coherent later. It had the opposite effect, however, and the topic was dropped and forgotten about almost consistently for months, only ever brought up by Alejandro in those hush-hush meetings with Courtney once a week. It wasn't like he didn't want to talk about it with someone more relevant, but he didn't have a choice but to not, or risk getting yelled at and locked out of a room again.

The next time the idea of a wedding ceremony was brought up, it was not his idea to talk about it, nor was he prepared for what was to follow. “You know, I was thinking about something earlier when you said you were going to be gone tonight,” Heather said, as she stared dead into the eyes of the man sitting across the table from her. “I think I'm going to go somewhere tonight too, just so I can't use being left alone against you whenever I want. I've got to make it fair.”

“You do not have to tell me if you want to go somewhere. I am not your keeper, I am just your partner in life. But, I must ask, why do you bring this up?” He raised his eyebrows at her as she just kept staring at him, a smile forming upon her lips.

“Oh, no reason. Just the fact that I think I want to do some planning of my own, since I know that's what you're going to go do.” Her smile only got bigger as his face fell, the shock of her actually knowing what he did when he went away getting to him. “Come on, I know that's why you leave all the time. Your parents must really want everything to be perfect, don't they?”

Mentally sighing in relief, he responded, “Yes, yes, they sure do.”

“And let me guess, they're trying to come up with everything sooner so that we can be married before this little bitch comes out kicking and screaming.” By that of course she was referring to the child that was growing inside of her, its development causing her once-petite frame to be altered with the appearance of a noticeable, but not too large, stomach bump. “But I'm not falling for it. Tell them they have to suck it up and deal with waiting until after I'm back to normal, thanks.”

“Why are you so insistent on waiting? While I understand that you want to look your best, I am certain that even at the largest size that this endeavor will make you, you will still be just as gorgeous as you were when we first met, if not even more.” The flattery was being laid on thick, as going to visit Courtney with the news that the plans they had been making over the past three-plus months would have to be scrapped would not be a good thing at all, but even when he tried to turn on the charm with his eyes she didn't fall for it. “Come on, please, we cannot let this child be born to us while we are unwed. You do understand why, yes?”

“Something to do with your family name, blah blah, a dishonor to you, blah. And do you know what I have to say to that? I say fuck that. I want to look my best on my wedding day, and if that means bringing you a little dishonor to you and your family, so be it.” Then, to turn his own words around on him, she finished almost just like he had: “Understand, yeah?”

Rather than fight and feel guilty for fighting with someone who wasn't in prime fighting condition, he felt it was best to rise from his chair and leave the scene, headed towards the first place he could think of that had an easily-escapable window. That was how he ended up locking himself in the bathroom, completely prepared to jump to the ground below and get away from everything for the night. It was a plan that would have worked, if he hadn't hesitated when he heard her voice on the other side of the door, asking for him to come out and stop being so difficult about keeping true to the plans that had previously been in place. “No matter how much begging you do, I am not coming out of here right now,” he shouted at her, as he stood perched in position to jump from the window. “You are willingly to tarnish my name for the sake of your beauty and I do not want to deal with that at this moment.”

“Is that what your problem is? Because there are other ways to avoid 'tarnishing' your name, if that's the only thing you see wrong with this.”

“Like what? I am not allowing us to become wedded on terms that are not the ones my family would have wanted for us, and that is saying something when they are barely allowing us to change when this happens.” It wasn't even remotely true, because as far as he was aware, no one in his family knew that there was a race against time currently happening to prevent a child being born to unwed parents, but it was to keep up the appearances that he was visiting with his parents rather than Courtney. “If you truly love me, you will forgive the fact that you will not be in prime condition when we get married, but it is what must be done.”

Her fist banged on the door, a hollow noise resulting from it. “There are other ways though! They don't have to know that we—ugh, no, I'm not suggesting that. Let's just go run off and elope somewhere instead. Doesn't that sound better than this damn fighting?”

“No, I would rather not become disowned from my family and stripped of whatever honor they still have for me because I decided it would be better to have a ceremony without them rather than the one they want for us.” As he was speaking, he was climbing down from the windowsill and was preparing to open the door and rejoin Heather, but curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask something about what she had omitted: “What were you about to say that you skirted around?”

“Oh, uh, it was nothing. I misspoke, that's all.” Her tone alerted him to the fact that she was lying, and when he questioned further, she pretended to gag to get out of having to reply, which he saw through as a deception. “Ugh, you really want to hear me say this, don't you? But don't say I tried to save you from hearing this.”

“Whatever it is that you do not want me to hear, I am sure that it is nothing more extreme than hearing you argue against me time and time again.” He chuckled, reaching for the doorknob to unlock it.

“I was going to suggest just killing the kid and ending it at that, but then I thought, no, that's super irrational and I'm pretty sure that would ruin your name worse than having the kid would.” He loudly gasped, half dramatically but with a lot of seriousness present, and pulled his hand away faster than he could process. How dare she suggest such a thing, especially when he had been actually accommodating to the fact that there was a child to begin with. “Hey, I told you that you wouldn't want to hear it.”

He was at a loss for words, a rare moment for someone as well-spoken as he was. Nothing wanted to come from his lips, no thoughts wanted to be vocalized. After five minutes of absolute silence on his end, she tried to level a deal with him to get him back to her side of the door. “If I say I didn't ever seriously consider that, would you come out?” There was no response. “What if I said I want the kid, but I want to be happy too?” Still no response, and she sighed when she realized there was probably no way to get him out of his self-inflicted prison, except for some odd option she had never before thought about. “If I ask you in Spanish to come out, will you?”

“I doubt you could manage to ask me, let alone say a single word in my beautiful language.” The gesture did cheer him up a bit, giving him the willpower to open the door, just to be hit in the face with something small and hard. “Ow! What have I told you about the face?”

“What have I told you about our wedding and our baby? You don't listen to me, so I won't listen to you. Not anymore, that is.” He bent over to pick up whatever it was that had hit him, and to his surprise he found the gaudy ring he had bought what felt like forever ago in Vegas. “Until you can see things my way, I'm calling this whole damn thing over.”

“ _Mi amor_ , please, do not do this. It is a mistake on your part.” He tried to push the ring back into her hands but she slapped it away, letting it clang against the floor once more. “Heather, what are you doing?”

“I'm getting out while I still can. I'm starting to think that your motives behind marrying me quickly have less to do with honor and more to do with having control over me, so until you back off and realize that I'm a fucking person too, I'm done with you, Alejandro Burromuerto. So fucking done.” It wasn't her most rational of moves, and when she was outside of the house with everything she could think of that belonged to her that she'd need for the next couple of weeks, maximum, she was almost in tears from the regret that already had begun to fill her. It wasn't even possible for her to apologize and try to right things, because he had stormed out to go on with his plans for the night within seconds of what she had said.

When the midnight blue car came driving up, she couldn't even say she was filled with relief at seeing someone who would listen to her. She wanted to make things better, and there just wasn't any way. The entire car ride back to Gwen's place was filled with crying and sobbed apologies to someone who wasn't present to hear them, all while the driver of the car listened and tried to be of some comfort, even if it wasn't much.

* * *

“I can't believe that he wouldn't be understanding about how you felt about the situation. That's really low of him, and he wasn't exactly above doing terrible things to begin with. How didn't he see that you actually cared about when this dumb wedding was?” It was a few days later, and everyone was becoming up-to-date on the situation that had occurred that night, which led to a lot of questions coming from those who hadn't been informed the night it happened. Or, in this instance, it was just Cody who was learning what had happened, and for being as good of a friend as he was, he was filling his role perfectly by siding with Heather. “I told you he wasn't someone decent, and you were too good for him.”

“But now what? I'm not exactly going to find someone else, thanks to your girlfriend letting everyone know what's been happening in my life.” As he always did, Cody made the rebuttal that Sierra was the exact opposite of his girlfriend, but like usual he was ignored. “Besides, where is she? Unable to show her face to me because she knows she ruined my life?”

“Yeah, it's odd that Sierra isn't here yet. Whenever it's Chinese food night, she's normally here waiting for us with a table, and this time it's us waiting for her. What gives?” Gwen looked around the nearly empty restaurant, making sure that their group hadn't gotten two tables on accident, but when she saw no sign of a long purple ponytail, she grew worried. “Did something happen to her, do you think?”

“I don't know. She was supposed to run to the store for some things and then come here, but obviously she's not here so maybe she ran into someone else with big news and decided to make blog posts about them. I'm not going to complain about her not being here, though. I'm pretty sure she'd be all over Heather if she was.” The look Cody gave to both of the ladies at the table with him was one of certainty, that made both of them just as thankful that the other woman wasn't quite there with them.

The thankful feeling disappeared very quickly when Sierra was shown to the table, recognized by the helpful staff as the other piece to the party. She climbed into the booth next to Cody, grabbing him in a sobbing hug. “My car's gone!” she whined, concerning everyone else. “I parked it and came back and it was gone! I had to ride the icky bus here, and let me tell you, I am going to leave that company and that driver a scathing review on my blog once I know where my car is!”

“Dude, shouldn't you have called me instead of riding the bus over here to tell me in person? Maybe, you know, I could have helped find it! Now we're without a car and it's all your fault. Thanks, Sierra.” The displeasure in his voice was mostly due to the revelation that the car had been stolen, but everyone aside from Sierra knew that part of it was because she had turned up. “Looks like we're going to have to skip dinner tonight so we can look for the car.”

At the same time as each other, the two women on the other side of the table had something to say. Gwen's voice started first, an agreement to the statement that had just been made, but Heather's declaration that she _had_ to eat something before they did anything else was the one that everyone heard. “Sorry, I really would love to help you guys look and all, but you know that I need to make sure that I'm feeding myself so that I don't somehow manage to kill this thing inside of me. I'm sure the car will be fine if we wait an hour or two.”

“Ooh, yeah, we can't forget about that baby.” Even in her sadness, Sierra still managed to bounce a bit when it came to talking about the one happy thing that she had to focus on. “I vote that we wait until after dinner to go looking for the car again. I'm sure whoever took it just needed it for a little bit and they'll bring it back when they're done.”

“Maybe they're right, and maybe it will be fine. We can't exactly leave now, can we?” Moving her shoulder ever so slightly as a pointer, Gwen motioned towards who was sitting next to her. Cody went to give a reason why they could leave, but seeing the face on the woman he once loved and been friends with for so long made him forget what he was going to say and agree with everyone else. “There we go. It would have been wrong if we had gotten Heather's hopes up for a night of good food and friends just to ruin it right away.”

“Chasing a missing car wouldn't have ruined my night. It would have just given us a different location to talk about what I know we're going to spend this entire meal discussing, and that would have been fine. I just don't want to go yet because it's not car chasing time, it's eating time, and I know that you guys would probably just skip the meal and get something lame to fill the void.” Everyone was looking at her as she kept speaking, having gotten her point way before she finished. “What are you guys looking at, huh?”

“For being someone who is normally so tiny and about her figure, you are way too into talking about food. What gives?” Sierra leaned forward so that her face was about halfway across the table, her eyes attempting to bore holes into Heather. “You can't use the excuse of that itty bitty baby being there for how much you want food, because I did my research and it's not using that many of your nutrients quite yet.”

There was a bit of stuttering and stammering as she tried to come up with a response, but much like other times in the past, the truth was the best course of action and couldn't be avoided forever. “Okay, you got me. But do you know how hard it is to maintain being so small? It's fucking impossible to have a good meal and not regret it. Let's just say that now that I have something ruining my body and my life, I'm going to enjoy what I can.” Her smirk at the end made Sierra shrink back, muttering to herself about something or other. “Do you have a problem with that plan? Because I don't.”

“I don't have any problems right now except the fact that my car's missing, but I'm totally okay with sitting here and eating while whoever took it realizes that they have my Canada playlist and they really should give it back to me.” She leaned back forward, reaching across the table with her hand to softly tap Heather on the nose. “Besides, why would I have a problem with your logic? I say go for it, and enjoy yourself!”

“While all this is great and all, and I really like it when you two are getting along, can we, uh, actually get our food now? I'm really worried about the car, and I'd like to get to look for it as fast as we can.” It wasn't so much that he was being impatient as he was being realistic, and after Cody said that they all got up from the table, all taking part in one of the finest Chinese buffets in their area of the country. But with the looming search for the car over their heads, they all made sure to at least spent most of their time eating.

The rest of the time, naturally, was spent talking at length about what had gone on a few nights earlier. As her friends, everyone present sided with Heather on her decision to break off what had truly been a stupid engagement, and so when she spoke of what had happened to cause her to make that decision, everyone was offended and hurt on her behalf. But the one that was most upset about everything was the one who hadn't heard the details before that, and that was Sierra. “I just can't believe that he would romance you, he would make love to you, and then he would let you leave without a fight,” she said while munching on some sort of chicken. “That doesn't seem like the kind of thing he would do to someone he loved. Someone he hated, yes, but not loved.”

“Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure he's not exactly in love with me anymore. But whatever, it happened and it's over, and I'm not going back to that. Not if he's really such a dick that he cares more about family standing than me.”

“Does he really think that his parents will disown him for this?” Gwen had already heard the entire story, complete with every detail, but that particular question had weighed on her mind once the topic had been brought up again. “Surely he's done worse things before than this. At least you and him were going to get married.”

“I don't know what he was thinking, but they probably wouldn't even care if we weren't planning on getting married and still had a kid. Now he's got nothing and that's just how it is, and it's all because he thought it would be okay to even suggest having our wedding earlier than originally planned. I don't think he gets that women kinda want to look good in their dress!” The dull end of a fork was slammed into the table in anger, startling everyone. “Fucking jerk, thinking I want to look like I'm a dolled-up prized pig or something.”

“Well you both already know what you'd look like in a proper dress, so maybe that was his line of thinking,” Cody suggested, just throwing an idea out to the table. “Not like I agree with it, but hey, it's the kind of weird thing he'd think of.”

“Ooh, Codykins! You know what I look like in a proper dress, so why don't we have a whole bunch of little mini Coderra babies and then let them be part of our wedding!” Sierra put her hands on her cheeks and squealed. “I can see it now, and let me tell you, it's the best thing ever!”

“We're not getting married. Ever.” He put a stop to her excitement quickly, especially when he added, “We're not even dating, so can you please stop dreaming about our future together?”

She pulled her hands back down to table level. “Sorry. I kinda got caught up in the moment and wanted to imagine what a good wedding would be like. One that would actually happen, not one that would be forced by someone.”

“Hey! Mine would have been the best damn wedding ever if it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to push the date to too early for my liking!” Instead of slamming her fork down again, Heather decided it would be more fun to pick a single ice cube out of her glass of water and throw it across the table, where it landed squarely in Sierra's shirt. The taller woman screamed, freaking out about the coldness that was resting and melting in her chest, which was a hilarious thing to witness.

It also earned them a one-way ticket out of the restaurant for disturbing the mysterious other patrons of the establishment that were nowhere to be seen. Before they left, however, they were given a fortune cookie each with the payment of their bills, and once they were outside the dinner mindset was gone and it was then time for searching for the missing car. Or, at least, that was what the plan had been. “Do any of you believe in what these dumb cookies have inside of them?” Gwen asked as she smashed her cookie to break it open. “I think they're good for a laugh or two, but aside from that, they're just a waste of paper.”

“Fortunes are the best things ever. Every single one I've ever gotten has said that one day my soulmate will realize that I'm his soulmate too, and I'm still waiting for that day.” Sierra waggled her eyebrows in Cody's direction and he sighed, shaking his head. “I just don't like eating the cookies, which is probably why my fortune has never come true.”

“Let's keep it that way, please. I appreciate you as a friend and all, but I don't know if I'd be able to live if I was in a real relationship with you.” Cody had already eaten his cookie and was reaching for Sierra's to eat hers and keep her thinking that her luck would remain the same. “Even if you eat the cookies, the stuff doesn't come true.”

“Hey, keep your hands off of mine and let me test this theory!”

“You guys do know that it's supposed to be done a certain way to make it work, right? Not like it actually works to begin with, but you're supposed to eat half, read the stupid fortune, and then eat the rest.” As she was explaining, Heather was also demonstrating what she had been told was the “proper” way to eat one of the cookies, breaking it in half before eating just one of the two sides, and then pulling the paper out of the other one. But before she read it, she looked at everyone else. “Well? Are you going to do it or not?”

“I am! If it means it'll come true and Cody will be mine, then I'm down for it!” Sierra quickly emulated what she had just been shown, dramatically reading the fortune aloud when she was done crunching on the half of the cookie she had to eat. “Let's see, this one tonight says that I should expect things to come easier once I accept the truth. I wonder what that's referring to?”

No one had an answer for her, so she shrugged and popped the other half of the cookie in her mouth. At the same time, Gwen opened the wrapper that her cookie was smashed up in, extracted the paper, and dumped the cookie crumbs on the ground while shoving the plastic in her pocket. “Mine says something about past loves still being relevant. Whatever. Like I said, it's a waste of paper. No one I ever was in love with has the time to care about me anymore.” Much like the plastic, she crumpled the paper up and shoved it into her pocket. “Anyone else got a fun one to share with all of us?”

“You might get a kick out of mine,” Cody said as he held up his fortune. “It says that victory is within my reach, and you know what? I hope it is. There's a tournament coming up that, if I win it, I get a trip to a televised one somewhere! I don't know the details really, because how am I ever going to get a chance to go to a big-time billiards tournament, but, heh, it's fun to dream, right?”

“With the way you play, I think everyone would have to drop dead or something for that to happen. Face it, you're not very good.” It was a brutal thing to say, especially to someone who was her friend, but deep down, everyone knew that what Heather was saying while she read her fortune to herself was true. But when she didn't say what she had read, there was some suspicion brewing about it, and when questioned about her reasoning, she threw the paper away and snapped, “It was dumb, totally unrealistic, and you guys would rather puke than hear me read it, trust me.”

Once everyone had turned their attention to the fact that they had a missing car to find, it was like the cookie incident had never happened—save for the fact that Sierra, upon everyone heading towards the vehicle they had shown up in, bent down and picked up that fateful little paper, with faith that whatever it held could ring true for someone.

* * *

“Ew, why the hell is this something that they'd willingly listen to?” Courtney bashed on the stereo in a familiar purple car, trying to get it to stop blaring some country song. “I would have hoped that someone who uses this rolling death trap would have a decent taste in music, but looks like I was proven wrong!”

“You should not talk so harshly about the music taste of someone who has so generously lent you the use of their car,” Alejandro said in response, forcing a smile as he did. “I could see why Sierra would find something of this sort catchy. She does seem like the type to enjoy loud proclamations of her femininity.”

“Says the guy who would probably listen to that damn _La Cucaracha_ song and enjoy that.”

His smile quickly became a frown. “I do not appreciate that you are stereotyping me, first of all, and secondly, that is a Mexican song, not a Spanish one.”

“Whatever. It's still as bad as this one we're listening to now. If only I could get it to stop!” Each word was punctuated with a hit to the stereo, and eventually it shut off. “There, finally. I can hear my thoughts again!”

“As if there are very many thoughts to hear that are not ones I have already politely asked you to forget about, such as your insistence on killing my dearest Heather simply because she and I did not see eye-to-eye over something.” He still frowned at her, but due to her focus having gone from the stereo to the road, she did not notice. “And we are not going to kill the child either. She suggested that and I turned it down then, so do not suggest it now.”

Courtney gripped the steering wheel tight with one hand, and placed the other on her leg, her fingers tapping as she thought. “I got it. How about I make a document that we disguise as a restraining order, but have it actually be something that legally binds her to you!”

“I am fairly certain that she would scour the document for anything that she does not approve of. After all, we all are aware of what consequences signing unread agreements can have.” He started to do like she was, tapping whatever was within reach with restless fingers. “Why my plan for handling this situation failed, I am unsure, but we must come up with a way to fix things before it is too late.”

“We've got someone on the inside helping us out with this. Next time we all meet up and discuss the facts, we'll be golden. And I'm sure my idea of a fake restraining order will work, by the way. I'm the one with the knowledge of law here.” Even with her supposed “knowledge” of law, she was still speeding down the road to some unknown destination, not caring in the slightest about how fast she was going. That unknown destination was the crowded parking lot of a shopping center, with just enough strange cars present to make a purple striped one not seem so out of place. “I'm pretty sure this is the place we were told to return the car when we were done with it. See anyone who might be looking for it?”

Alejandro looked out of the window, checking the horizon for anyone familiar looking. “I do not, which means they are either not searching yet, or are and are just out of view. Dare we risk being caught in here?”

“Nah, I don't think I want to explain to anyone what I'm doing with crazy Sierra's car. If anyone has to explain that, I want it to be her. Let's get out of here before they find us.” Leaving the keys in the ignition but the doors unlocked, the two got out and headed for the closest store they could get to.

Not five minutes later, a tall woman with long purple hair that matched the color of her car came into the store, her eyes wide with wonder and excitement. “I'm so glad I found you guys, but I've gotta be quick. Codykins isn't too happy that I lost the car today.”

“You told him you _lost_ it? Why would you lie like that? We were borrowing it, like what friends do.” Courtney opened her arms wide for Sierra to come into them for a hug, but she was rejected as the other woman walked to Alejandro and placed a crumpled paper up in his hand. “Okay, what gives? You're helping me get his love back, not passing him notes.”

“Oh Courtney, if only you knew what happened before I got here. You'd totally understand why I've got to give that fortune to him.” At the sound of her phone ringing, Sierra jumped, dashing towards the door. “I'll text you later to let you know what I know, okay?”

“Yeah, okay, sure.” Giving a halfhearted wave in her direction, as soon as she couldn't see them anymore Courtney turned her attention to Alejandro, who was reading the little piece of paper with a concerned look. “Was she even of any help? Worth the drive out here? Anything?”

“I cannot say quite yet, but if this is of any indication, one of them has a fortune very similar to something I said to Heather not too long ago. 'If you love someone, let them go, and if it is meant to be they will return.' How fitting that I am given this when I am waiting for her to return to me.”

“You're a sap sometimes, know that?” Courtney playfully elbowed him in the ribs, but when he frowned at her she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I get it. You love her. Thanks for the reminder. Now can we go and get real work done?”

He nodded. “As long as this real work does not have anything to do with killing someone, I am down for it.”

“You don't really think I'd kill someone, do you?” When he didn't respond with anything more than his own eyeroll, she sighed again. “I promise I won't think of killing her again. Not unless she does something really stupid...like break off an engagement with someone as great as you!”

The ride back to the office building that Courtney worked in was one that was completely silent, a relief after the ride in Sierra's car but awkward all the same.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're getting to my favorite part of the story! If you're liking it, definitely let me know!


	6. So Much Easier Not To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The romance is dead--or, anyway, that's the way it seems to be at the moment. But just because there's no love between the parties doesn't mean that there's still not love present. Or maybe, just maybe, it would be easiest to give up on the romantic relationship and just focus on friendships and the music those friendships bring.

The morning sun was peeking its way through closed blinds whenever the mailman came, and it was time for the afternoon sun to be high in the sky whenever Gwen pulled herself outside to check to see what kinds of mail he delivered on that day. Normally it was nothing exciting, just bills and offers for things she wouldn't have ever gotten if people didn't know who she was from reality television, but sometimes there was fanmail or even letters from old friends.

On the day where the sun was burrowed behind clouds and the light never filtered into the little studio's loft bedroom, there wasn't anything to wake her up from her sleep except the sense that something had happened. When she opened her eyes, looking up to the blind-covered skylight that was letting little light in, her first reaction was that it was still too early to be awake. But a nagging feeling told her otherwise, and so she got from her bed and got dressed as quickly as possible. Something wasn't as it always was, and her first reaction was that she needed to check everyone else's well-being before she could even think about sleeping again.

One quick text to Cody later, to verify that he and Sierra were okay, and one check to make sure that there was still a sleeping Heather on her couch, and there was nothing else that Gwen could think of that could possibly be making her so anxious and worried. After all, if her friends were okay, which they were, what could it be?

The mail in front of her door was the answer, the anxiety caused by the fact that the mailman knocked at the door to alert her to the delivery of mail and she had just not woken up from the noise. But why, she thought, would the mailman knock? There was never any knock to let her know she had mail, that was why the sun was the reason she woke up and checked it every day. When she got to look through the little stack of envelopes, however, she quickly realized that she had been alerted because there were important, personal things in this particular delivery. While most of it was the normal fare, there was one letter with a return address for some detention center, and that could only mean one thing: a person from her past wanted contact.

Reading the letter alone wasn't the smartest of ideas, but she had no other choice, as waking up the only person in the home with her would not end well on her behalf. She chose to sit up on her bed, up in the loft above the rest of the house, as she read something she had never expected to receive in her life.

Shaking hands held the letter that started with a messy "Dear Gwen" and ended with a nearly illegible signature, and as she read the words that were sandwiched between the two points she only started to shake more. Not out of nerves, however, but rather out of anger that someone, anyone, would find it acceptable to send a letter that started as an apology and went straight back into the same behavior that had caused their relationship to crumble in the first place. Having been jailed for the past many years, she would have thought that Duncan would have at least had the time to think about what he had done wrong.

Asking about Courtney in a letter to her was the exact opposite of what he should have done, and that infuriated Gwen to a point. She knew that somewhere, deep down in his criminal heart, he still felt something for her, but if he was going to ask about his other ex-girlfriend rather than her, then there was no reason for her to be feeling any sort of romantic attraction to him any longer. With no regrets, she crumpled the letter and threw it down without looking at where exactly she was throwing it, just wanting the taint of Duncan's handwriting as far from her as it could possibly be.

"What's going on?" the drowsy voice of the woman who had been sleeping on the couch bed asked, as she sat up and yawned. "What hit me?"

"Sorry, just got a bit frustrated." Gwen climbed back down from her loft and sat right next to her friend as she stretched and yawned some more. "I didn't even realize that I didn't throw the paper as far as I thought. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

Heather shrugged, rolling her shoulders to pop them at the same time. "I'm not even sure, but if you did, it's probably time for me to be up anyway. Why were you throwing paper, anyway? Was it something stupid, or did you just not want to deal with that while you're dealing with me?"

"Oh, no, it has nothing to do with you! Trust me, I would do more than throw a paper at you if I had a problem with you." When Gwen laughed, she got a small chuckle from Heather as well, something she hadn't expected to get but was happy to have. It had been a hard past month for her, and some days it was hard to get a smile from her, so getting any sort of happy laughter from her was a step in the right direction. "Okay, you seem like you've woken up in a good mood. Care to share why, or should we just accept it and go?"

"I just actually was able to sleep, that's all. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when you've got so much on your mind? If it's not me thinking about why I should go back, it's me thinking about how I'm being a burden on you, and if it's not that, then it's all about this damn parasite." At that, she rested one of her arms on the top of her stomach, which was out just far enough for her to do so. "I'm glad I didn't have another nightmare about it breaking loose and killing me."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be very much fun. I'm glad to hear that you actually slept though, even if I did wake you up from the sleep you needed." There was guilt in her voice as she apologized, because she truly did feel bad for what happened. "But I couldn't stand to see that letter any longer and I didn't want to hold it and throw it away properly."

"Wait, hold on, a letter? For me or for you?"

Hearing how concerned Heather got at the topic of a letter made Gwen wish that she had specifically said it was for her to begin with. "Me, don't worry. I doubt that he has the address to this place anyway. But I didn't know that Duncan had this address either."

"Duncan? You mean that punk who got jailed for blowing up a mansion? You still talk to him? Didn't he break up with you, or you break up with him, or something like that?" It wasn't as if she knew that she was touching on a topic that as of a little while earlier, Gwen wanted nothing to do with, but the questions were asked and they had to be dealt with.

"That guy, yeah, but I don't still talk to him. My feelings for him, which may or may not even be a thing, by the way, were not anything I wanted to think about again, until I got a letter from him talking to me about one person I never want to speak to as long as I live." When asked who exactly that could be (as it was odd enough to Heather that the two of them had become friends and she surely would have been the one person Gwen never wanted to talk to again), it was a one word answer that was given: "Courtney."

* * *

The woman in question was back in her office, two individuals inside with her. One was eating from a bag of dried fruit, the other sitting and glaring at the person behind the desk, who was in the middle of reading her very own letter. "Let me guess, you called us here today to come up with some other hair-brained scheme that would only work if this was in a fictional setting," Alejandro said, furrowing his eyebrows as he glared. "Either that, or you are finally going to admit that you have been playing me for dumb."

"It's neither of those things,  _Al_ ," Courtney snapped, not looking from the letter. "I've just got to read through this sorry excuse of an apology letter before we can get down to business. If you were reading this, you'd understand."

"Understand what? That you have no grasp on reality and you are leading us astray?" He slammed his hands on the desk, startling the other person present into focusing on the conversation.

"I think that we should give Courtney some time! I mean, it takes a lot of skill to be able to figure out what someone's been up to, especially when she won't listen to me when I tell her every single thing that your precious Heather has been doing." Sierra, earning herself the glare from Alejandro, offered him the bag of dried fruit. "I'm eating pineapple. Did you know that they say the juice of a pineapple can make your body's juices sweeter? I'm hoping that today will be the day that Codykins sees I'm the one for him, and if I keep eating this, maybe that will seal the deal. I'm totally down for sharing with you, though."

He shuddered, not breaking his stare as he did. "Uh, no thank you. I try to avoid that tainted fruit after what shame it caused me."

Sierra pulled the bag back and was about to make a comment about his refusal, but Courtney interrupted it before she got the chance. "Would you two be serious about things for one minute? I've got this stupid letter written by some lovesick fool sitting here in front of me, and you two are squabbling about what? Fruit? I guess neither of you really care about the problems at hand!"

"Problems? I thought there was only one, and that was that Heather totally walked out of her loving relationship to get all buddy-buddy with my Cody!" A single piece of dried pineapple came flying towards Courtney's head, which she dodged without having to move. "You said a month ago that you'd be able to get rid of her for me by now, and look! She's still going to be there when I get home, I just know it!"

"Pardon me if I am wrong, but I thought you said she was staying with Gwen at her home."

"Psh, Al, you're right but you're so wrong at the same time. Just because she's sleeping there doesn't mean she's not creeping on my man when I'm not around!" Another piece of fruit was thrown, this time towards Alejandro, but it too missed its target. "I was promised that if I gave information to this cause of getting her back to you, mister Latin man, she would never come around me and Cody again! But what does she do? Keep coming back!"

"That is not my problem. Heather is much like a wild animal, in that you think she is tame but she will always make herself free." He broke his glare, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. "It is one of the more attractive traits she possesses, but one that has caused much of this trouble that brings us here today."

But Sierra was not listening to the explanation, her mind so wrapped around the issue of someone else female being near her man that she couldn't focus on what she was being told. "She's gotta be sleeping with him. I'm sure of it. Why else would she have told him about the baby before she told you? I smell a rat and her name is home-wrecker Heather!"

"Trust me, she would not have slept with Cody even if he was the last man alive. If she never once got intimate with someone before I returned to her life, I have no reason to believe that she would betray me and my trust once her and I got back together." He crossed his arms over his chest as he thought about what to say next, his eyes still closed as he did. "And, to further invalidate your crass proclamation, I know exactly when the unfortunate bastard child was conceived, and I can assure you that I was one of the two participating parties."

Finally done with reading her letter, Courtney banged both of her hands down on her desk several times in an attempt to stop the arguing from happening, but she was ignored. "I've been doing research, and I'm positive that whatever you think happened, didn't. Because no woman gets that close to another woman's guy and isn't sleeping with him!"

"Surely you are not just jealous that Cody actually appreciates the company of my Heather, because this is sounding a lot like you are trying to demonize her to compensate for his lack of love towards you." Amidst the continued bangs on the desk, he kept speaking to defend the honor of someone he cared for. "I can assure you that she has never touched Cody in a way that you would frown upon, and that I am the father of her child."

"Except you're not! I have no reason to believe that. She's a big mean bitch and all, but I really don't think she's stupid enough to actually leave you if that's true!"

"Will you two please shut the fuck up?" Courtney bellowed, just loud enough to stop the arguing, but quiet enough that she wouldn't be heard by people in other offices. "Thank you! I was going to say that we could do some more snooping today to see if Sierra's claims are true or not, because they really could go either way if she's good for anything other than having a fast car, but now that you two have shown how sad and pathetic of people you are, I don't think I want to waste my time helping either of you!"

"Then I will just take my time and money away from your internship, and you can find someone else as generous as I am to fill my place." Alejandro stood to make his threat seem more realistic, but before he even got a chance to head towards the door, Courtney bolted from her seat to block him in. "Oh? What is this? Do you want me to stay, even after what you rudely just called me?"

"You know that I can't lose this 'case'. If you go, so does me ever earning every degree I ever want in life." There was pleading in her wide eyes as she poked her lower lip out and started pouting. "Please just stay so we can make things work. Please."

As he hadn't taken a step from his chair and had merely turned to leave, he sat back down without any hesitation. "You must promise that you will make things work and bring to me who I desire most. Just like it used to be."

"Like it used to be? When I helped you snoop through her purchases and every little decision to make it even possible to get back with her? Oh no, I'm not going to do that again this time, because we have our own little insider." At that, Sierra waved, having gone back to eating her pineapple pieces and most likely thinking about Cody. "However, I can't help but shake the idea of killing her and getting her out of the way for other, better options..."

"Please do not ever suggest killing her, especially when she has something that is important to me with her. She and I may not be seeing the same problems, but regardless of if she lets us right our mistake or not, she is the mother of my child and I am not going to sit by and let you murder her for whatever reason." He shook his head, trying to rid the thought of her dying from his mind. "I do not even understand what your fascination with killing her is."

"Then let's just forget I suggested it and knock her down a peg or two on the kill list, shall we? Thanks to that letter I got, I've got someone much more deserving of death. Then when Gothie's out of the way, we can turn our focus back to ridding the world of your floozy of a fianc _é_ e." There were two audible gasps, one from Sierra as she dropped her bag of fruit, and one from Alejandro, who looked completely offended. "Okay, taking back that floozy comment. But not the first part. Gothie's going down, if she thinks it's okay to have Duncan sending me letters about how much he still loves her but thinks about me too."

"Am I allowed to te—"

"No. No telling  _anyone_  about this plan, Sierra. It stays between the three of us." With how serious Courtney sounded as she spoke, there was no further questioning of who got to know. However, the internal questioning began about how legal everything that happened in that office really was.

* * *

For being one of the typically busy times of day, the wing of the mall where the food court was located was oddly quiet and devoid of almost any people milling around. That was why it was a perfect spot to meet up and discuss recent developments in life since the last time everyone had gotten together, but when only three of the four people showed up, there was slight cause for concern.

"I hate to bring up someone who really bothers us all, but where's Sierra? Doesn't she follow you around like a lost puppy all the time nowadays?" It was the first thing that Heather said once they were all situated on a bench a bit out of the way from the little restaurants, and it came after several minutes of her sitting there rubbing at her feet and relaxing. Her and Gwen had been at the mall for much longer than Cody had, doing some shopping and female bonding that naturally happened after what had transpired that morning, and while the only way anyone could tell Gwen had been present was all the bags she was holding, it was much more obvious with her. She was clearly tired and seemed slightly uncomfortable, a result of having not done anything of the long shopping trip variety in her current state before then. "Not like I'm complaining that she's gone. Means I can breathe and not deal with her around."

"She'll meet up with us later. She had a fan club meeting to attend today and she wasn't going to skip that for whatever we're going to do today." Cody looked between the two ladies that had called for this gathering, waiting for an explanation as to what was the reason.

He got his explanation quickly. "I got a letter today, from a certain criminal ex-boyfriend of mine, and I'm worried that he sent one to someone else." Her fingers fiddling with the handle of one of the bags she had set on the bench before her, Gwen had her eyes darting every which way, as if she was checking the horizon for anyone who could be of danger. "I mean, I haven't talked to Courtney since we were still on the show, but I'm sure she still holds a grudge against me somewhere down inside her for what happened between me, her, and Duncan, and if he sent her something, there could be trouble."

"Is that all? Last I heard, which I heard from Sierra so I trust this, she's in law school and working at some firm in her free time. Interning, I think. I bet she's got enough of a grip on the law to not start something with you." There was optimism in Cody's words that made Gwen smile, but at the same time it made Heather roll her eyes and gag. "Hey, I like to think that everyone ended up okay after the show, and if that means she's living a normal life, I want to believe that."

"Except there is no way that Courtney could be doing anything but be almost as crazy as your girlfriend is."

"Sierra isn't my girlfriend, and neither of them are crazy. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or what?" he asked, tilting his head.

"I woke up just fine, even if it was by paper to the face. I'm just a bit tired and hungry, that's all. You try walking through half the stores in this place while carrying a living being inside of you. It's not easy, let me tell you." To accentuate her point, she arched her back and made her prominent stomach all the more noticeable. "So I think I've got the right to be bitchy right now, thanks. Especially when it comes to talking about that, ugh, terrible woman."

Gwen's jaw dropped slightly in shock."Are you referring to Courtney there? Do you mean you still have a problem with her too? Not like I actually have one or anything, but I might if she's gotten what I got."

"I'm definitely referring to her, and it has nothing to do with whatever happened between me and her in the past. Back when I was still living in the house with Alejandro, back before a certain someone with her loose lips and even looser fingers let my news get to him, I would always find papers with her signature on them. It was like she was doing something for him. What it was, I didn't bother asking, because, hey, he was sleeping with me, so why should I question anything?" She relaxed her position to make herself sit properly again, before sliding into more of a reclining pose. "But now that I think about it, it seems like her breed of crazy was making him crazy too."

"You don't think..." Gwen let her voice trail off, trying not to continue the sentence she had started, but the imploring looks she got from her friends forced her to finish. "You don't think she's trying to set something up, do you?"

"Set what up? The only thing I could ever see her setting up is a failed murder attempt, because she's too stupid and focused on dumb things to ever do anything actually bad. But still, I didn't like that she was involved in my relationship somehow, but I didn't question it on the off chance that she was getting played by Alejandro. Not like that matters anymore." She gave a small sniffle, one that was clearly fake, and pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. "Getting back involved with that douche caused nothing but trouble for me, and I'm glad I'll never have to deal with him again."

"Never deal with him again? A-are you sure you want to say that? You're kind of having his baby, don't you think he's going to want something to do with  _you_  about that?" His head tilting even more, Cody's eyes widened in shock of what Heather was saying. "He never seemed like the kind of guy to sit aside and let things happen without some involvement."

"Yeah, well, he's a dick and I'd rather not deal with him. He's probably perfectly fine with forgetting I exist, because I'm still not marrying him and I'm still having his kid, and if I don't marry him then he won't want anything to do with the kid. So, really, as long as I don't somehow get swayed into signing some paper that binds us together, I never have to see him again." As she spoke, she arched her back out again, almost falling off the bench in the process. No one noticed her slide, however, and she had to scramble to catch herself before she hit the floor, screaming as she did.

Screaming was her mistake, as that caught the attention of the other two, who had been more focused on understanding what she was saying rather than what she was doing. Gwen, who had already been standing, let go of all the bags that were on the bench and took the few steps to help her friend back to her seat, laughing as she did. "Got a bit worked up there, didn't you? I get it, everyone has someone in life that they fall for, but you really shouldn't actually fall when talking about him."

"It wasn't intentional for me to fall, okay? I was just trying to get in a good position and I misjudged how much I could arch before I slid, that's all."

"By any chance, did you forget that you have a different center of balance now, or did you think that the floor would help you at all?" She was still laughing, to the point that once Heather was back sitting properly, all she did was shoot daggers. "Hey, I'm trying to be helpful. Don't get so offended about it."

"I'm not offended, and even if I was, it's not like I'd let you know. You're making fun of me for something I can't help and I'm not appreciating that in the slightest." A motion was made to point out what that "something" she was referring to was, even though both people present knew all too well what it was without reminder. "Thanks for helping me back up though, I guess."

"You're welcome. Next time, though, I think I'm going to let you hit the floor so you learn not to stretch in chairs or on benches. This is like the third time I've caught you before you got hurt," Gwen said, putting her hands on her hips and sounding much like she was trying to scold a fully-grown woman. "Now let's get back to what we were talking about before your disruption, shall we?"

She got a sigh in response. "Do we have to? I don't exactly like talking about him."

"You're the one who brought him up, so, yeah, I'd say we have to. Or maybe I'll rethink letting you sleep on my couch." Having her current place of residence threatened got Heather to agree to keep talking, and Gwen walked back to where she had been standing previously. "Okay, now get through the rest of this story without you falling off the bench."

"I make no promises, and besides, I wasn't ever really telling a story. I was just talking about how I don't have to deal with him again if I choose not to."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I think I have to stop you there, if I actually know anything about how relationships work," Cody said, putting his hand on Heather's knee. "You might just have to see him again. A lot."

"Not if I don't want to. And, trust me, I won't want to." She gave a small sound of indignation, turning her head away from her friends. "Sure, I'm the one who left this time, but there's no saying that he'd even stay around if I went back to him, especially since I'm not going to do what he wants me to do."

"You have to hear me out. Getting all negative about seeing him isn't going to do you any good when he forces you to share your kid with him. I know you've said that he only ever called it a bastard child and all that, but it's still his and he's not that big of a jerk to not want anything to do with someone he created." When he was met with the argument that Alejandro was indeed  _that_ big of a jerk, he had the perfect response: "Dude, listen to me. I might not know him as well as you do, but from what I do know, he cares about you. In a weird way. But he cares. And that means he's got to care about the baby, because right now it's part of you."

"That is the grossest thing I've ever heard you say, but I guess it's true." She turned her head back and faced Cody once more, a small smile on her lips. "It's a damn shame that I don't want to let him ever lay a finger on my baby, because I don't want him breaking its heart like he seems to like breaking mine."

The next person to speak was going to be Gwen, if she hadn't rudely been interrupted by someone calling their names from across the food court. By the entrance doors, Sierra was standing, waving and yelling for everyone's attention, and once she had it she came over to them as fast as she could. "Sorry that I'm so late, guys!" she apologized. "You wouldn't even begin to believe how crazy things got at this month's meeting of the Chris McLean fanclub!"

"You're still part of that? I thought after the last time when you all got banned from the park because someone brought a body pillow with him on it, you said you were never going back."

"I can't just abandon a fanclub I created, Codykins. Besides, the body pillow had clothes on it." In reality, Sierra had been about as far from any sort of fanclub meeting as she could have been, because of her serious business meeting with Courtney. But while she was horrible at keeping secrets to herself, she was good at stringing together lies, and as long as she had that skill going for her, she was going to keep up her double life. "Enough about my day, I wanna hear all about yours. Can we find somewhere big enough for all of us to sit? I've got a feeling there's going to be a lot of talking going on!"

* * *

"I can't believe I agreed to drive this whole way and back, just to keep up some front that she was at a club meeting about that asshole Chris," Courtney muttered to herself, trying to ignore the music that was playing in her car. "And I can't believe that she thought I wanted my very own copy of that stupid playlist of hers!"

"It seems as if Sierra believes that your taste in music is just as great as your taste in men, and by that I mean absolutely terrible and quite regrettable. However, it was a nice gift for her to bestow upon you, especially with how kind you were in giving her a ride. If you had let me drive like I had insisted, she would have been unable to give this gift, as my car lacks anywhere to play disks from." Alejandro, his focus on whatever was outside the window to try to block the music out, couldn't help but make just one more dig at the situation. "You could have turned down the gift, or, better yet, not played it."

An exasperated groan came from the other side of the car. "I know, okay? This was a stupid idea and the next time I see Sierra, I am making her sign an agreement that makes it illegal for her to make me listen to her shitty music!"

"No one is making you listen to it now. You could have easily turned it off already, but I think you are lying to yourself about enjoying her strange taste in songs, and your lies really do not impress me much."

It was a combination of things that made Courtney snap: first, the sly jab at her own music taste, then the usage of a quote from the one song they'd been forced through twice on that playlist, and finally, the realization that there was no reason that she needed to still be listening to the music at all. She shut the volume off with her fist, before punching the stereo a few times to make sure it wouldn't keep playing. The problem was, it did, and the song it chose to start on caused a bit of an eye twitch in her. "Since when did she have Celine Dion on this damn thing? Is there something out there that just has it in for me?"

"Oh yes, the disk knows exactly which song it will play next, and changed the order to frustrate you in a different way than the one you already were." He laughed, turning to look at just how angry the music—which had since been permanently shut off—was making Courtney. "Besides, that song was not too offensive."

"I think Sierra's conspiring against us. I mean, she comes in to our meeting today with big secret news for you that she hasn't even posted on her blog, then she gives me a rigged CD that plays the music of some wench that makes me think of Duncan when I hear her songs, and I don't want to ever think about that disgusting criminal, but today it's like he's been shoved in my face! And you know what? I think that nosy, insane, weird Sierra is the one behind him sending me that letter! So much for her being reliable!" Most of it was said in one breath, and by the time she was done yelling, Courtney had to take several moments to collect herself. "I don't trust her."

"I would hope that you would trust her, as she is risking her friendship with others to help get me back with the person I want most in this world." Sighing, Alejandro looked back out the window, where the clouds that had darkened the sky all day were starting to break. "Do you think that if she could be convinced to come home, she would appreciate having a nice, decorated place for our child to sleep?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. But since you won't follow through with what I've said you have to do to get her back, why would you still want her? With all the talk you've done about your family name and pride and honor, do you really want your little whore who broke off your engagement because of a reasonable request ever coming back?" There was anger in every word, not at the topic but rather as a result of prior discussion. "And don't even get me started on how you've done nothing but refer to that child by negative terms. You want  _that_  in your house too?"

Without so much as a pause for hesitation, he had an answer. "Yes. I want them both in my house, back where they belong, with me. I want my Heather back, the woman I spent so much time alone for, who every part of my heart aches for whenever I hear you or Sierra talk about her in negative terms. And I want my child, someone who I did not ever intend to worry with at this time in my life, but who will be mine soon enough. I want her too." He sighed, running a finger over his reflection in the window. "Do you think that I will be allowed to see her sometimes, if things do not end up working out?"

"Fuck if I know," Courtney said, rolling her eyes at the sappiness that was beginning to fill her car. "Probably not, because you got yourself involved with someone who's all about herself and thinks she doesn't need you. She never needed you."

"I believe that she did need me at one point, and she will need me again, but I also believe that she will not want to be with me again if she finds independence more to her liking. After all, what good am I if she can take care of herself?" He sighed again. "All I wanted was to marry her, from the very beginning. And instead, all this has happened and there is no chance that I will get the ending I want."

At that point, the music would have been more enjoyable to listen to than a heartbroken man go on and on about his sad little life, but there was no escaping the gripe party. "If you want her back so bad, you're going to have to be willing to bend the law a bit. I happen to be on the inside when it comes to the laws, and whatever I do will have just enough loopholes that it could ensnare her without getting either of us in trouble. Sure, it means we need to keep using batty-ass Sierra for intel work, but we can get you back your woman and your baby and cheer you up."

"Do you mean that, or are you just trying to get me to still help you with your internship things?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't ever dare use someone for my own personal gain." Courtney chuckled to herself when she was done, knowing full well that she was using everyone for her own gain. She had plans, things to do, and stringing people along was all part of the game.

* * *

More time had been spent in the back area of the food court than anyone realized until an alarm went off on Gwen's phone, startling everyone in the process. "Sorry, but I've got to go," she said, shutting the alarm off before grabbing the few bags from shopping that were actually hers. "I've got an art class to teach tonight and if I'm late again, I think they'll have my head."

"When were you late before?" Cody asked, genuinely curious for the answer. "We always make sure to let you go whenever you have a class to get to."

"I don't have time to explain, but I know someone here knows why so ask her instead. I'll see you all later, okay?" It wasn't that she didn't want to tell the story, but the alarm was set for when she should have been leaving her home to get to the rec center where she taught an art history class once a week, and the mall was further away than her house was. She nearly ran to leave, and no sooner than was she through the big entry doors did Cody and Sierra both look at Heather with questioning eyes, ready to hear whatever story she had to tell.

"How do you guys assume I know what she's talking about? Just because I've been staying with her and hanging out with her doesn't mean that I know why she'd be late to that dumb class of hers." When reminded that if they didn't know, it automatically meant that she had to be the one that did know, she changed her tune. "Okay, it was like, three weeks ago, or something like that. We lost track of time while looking through all of these, ugh, artistically-minded name books she borrowed and so she was late. No big deal."

Sierra squealed at the mention of name books, her hands tucked under her chin as she prepared to hear more of a different story. "What kind of names? Ooh I hope you latched onto some good ones because I think you are totally capable of picking one of the greatest names ever for your little princess! Did you find anything you liked?"

"Why would I tell you if I did? I don't need you deciding that you have the right to post that on your blog, so I'm not going to tell you anything more than that we looked. Got it?" Although she was doing that bouncing from excitement thing, Sierra nodded and Heather sighed. "Good. Now can we please leave this place? I don't think I want to be here any longer if we don't have to be. Every time someone walks by I swear they're staring at me and I don't think I like that very much."

"I won't post it, I swear. I didn't post when you accidentally told me that you're having a girl, so why would I post this news?" But the subject had already been dropped and Sierra had to deal with that fact. "Okay, fine, leaving? Is that what we're going to do? Because I guess I'm driving if that's the case." Without any more conversation, she stood up, pulled an unwilling Cody to his feet, and started for the door—just to be stopped by an upset Heather who wanted them to carry her things for her so she didn't have to. There was no room for arguing, especially on Sierra's side, as she was intending on getting news out of her and needed to be as nice as possible, and fairly soon after they were piling into the purple car with a bunch of shopping bags and a lot of talking still to do.

The first thing that happened, however, was the music came on. "If we're going to talk about things in the privacy of the car, shouldn't we, uh, not have music on?" Cody asked, looking at Sierra like she wasn't thinking things through. "Or do you want to drown out whatever is said until you hear what you want?"

"Oh, you're talking like you have something to say, Codykins. Do you?" She turned the volume down to hear his response.

"Not exactly, but..."

The music was cranked back to normal levels. "Then the playlist stays on. I like driving to my favorite hits by Canada's finest."

"Last time I checked, nobody ever referred to this band as 'fine'. Maybe you need to research your music a bit better before labeling it like that." From her spot in the back seat, laying across the entirety of the seat to make herself comfortable, Heather shook her head. "Can't we ditch the music this one time? You don't need to play it every time we're in here."

"No! Ever since this collection of amazing songs by some of my most idolized musicians came into my life, I refuse to go anywhere without listening to it. Maybe someday you'll see why, miss grumpy." With no intentions to change her mind, aside from the desire to get news she wasn't going to get, Sierra continued on with her childish behavior, down to the abrupt start she gave the car to speed from the parking lot. "Gosh, Cody, you really mess my car up whenever I let you use it. Maybe next time, I'll not let you drive ever."

"Sierra, I literally drove it from our place to the mall. That's it. You're the one who's driving wrong right now." To prove his point, he motioned towards the parking brake, which was still being used even with how fast they were going. She quickly fixed it and the ride, although still way too fast for being in a parking lot, became less noisy. "Okay, are you done acting like a little girl? Or are we going to spend this entire ride listening to people sing about the stupid stuff they did as kids while you act like you're still a kid?"

"I wasn't ever acting little. I'm just being myself. Got a problem with that?" In her attempted defense, she managed to act even more immature than before, a fact that was quickly pointed out to her by both other people present. "I...okay. I'm just mad that queen Heather back there won't tell me what names she likes!"

The driver's seat was kicked from the back, a forceful foot jolting Sierra into wishing she hadn't just admitted that she was mad about something so petty. "Listen here, I don't have to tell you a damn thing. I never have, and I never will. You have the worst history when it comes to sharing things I don't want shared, and I just can't risk you letting your loose fingers let the world know what I want to name my baby, especially since there is someone out there who doesn't need that kind of information."

"Who, Alejandro? I'm pretty sure he'd love to know. I mean, if I was in his shoes, I would so want to know!" Another kick was made to the chair, but this one didn't phase her as much. "But like I said, I wouldn't tell anyone without explicit permission from you! I learned that lesson already, believe me."

"Something tells me that you didn't learn anything, but whatever. I'm still not sharing with you." The dramatic sigh that Sierra give as she accepted defeat was something of a happy thing for Heather to hear, but the victory was short-lived as the song changed and her attention went from mentally gloating about besting someone to listening to the music. "Whoa, hold on, what is this?"

"Why should I tell you? You won't tell me things, so I won't tell you things. It's a fair trade."

She rolled her eyes, kicking the chair again. "It's not a fair trade when you want important information from me and I just want to know about the song you've got playing."

"My collection of songs is important information, and if you don't have the sense to understand that, then you have no reason to know about one of the best songs on this disk." In an attempt to end the discussion there, she went to turn the music down, but Cody's hand stopped her. "Cody-wody? What are you doing?"

"You're being unreasonable and you really shouldn't be like this. Heather's our friend, now answer her question and maybe she'll get around to answering yours." He pulled his hand back to see if she got the point, but she stopped the music rather than simply turning it down. "Or maybe not."

"I think someone here should talk before we do," Sierra said, putting her hand back on the wheel. "And that someone is you, dearest Cody. You never get involved in my arguments unless you have a reason, and now I want to know that reason."

He looked at her with widened eyes. "I always get involved in your arguments! I'm the one who puts a stop to them most of the time! There's nothing more than that, I swear!"

"No, I think she's right, even if her logic is as crazy as she is." Heather pulled herself back up to a sitting position and gently punched the back of Cody's seat once she was able to. "You didn't talk much earlier and now you're getting yourself involved in our fighting, so something's gotta be up. Either that, or you're starting to care about one of us more than you're letting on."

The last comment made Sierra start breathing heavily, anger building inside of her. "It better be some sort of good secret!" she snapped, losing all remnants of her childish behavior from before. "Either that or it better be that you're in love with me!"

He groaned. "Thanks, Heather. Now she's going to go on and on about how I need to be in love with her and not with you. Not like I'm in love with you or anything."

"I didn't think you were. Just tell us what you're hiding and then we can work on getting her to realize that you don't love either of us." She punched the seat again, before putting her hands to rest on her stomach. "And maybe, just maybe, we'll get to talking about those baby names."

"You're blackmailing me," he said, turning to see the sly smile upon Heather's lips. "But I guess I can't exactly hide what I've got to say much longer, before it becomes too obvious."

The car jerked to a stop in the middle of the road, with no other cars around to potentially hit it, while Sierra shook in anger. "If what you're about to say is that you've been cheating on me with our backseat passenger, you can get out of my car right this second!"

"That wasn't what I was going to say! I've never so much as thought about being with her, and even if I had, me and you are not dating so it wouldn't even be cheating!" As the car began its motion again, he took a deep breath, ready to talk about what he had to say. "Remember that tournament last week? The one that I actually almost won at?" When they both said they did indeed remember it, he continued. "Well, the guy who won, he can't make it to the next one for some reason or another, and yesterday the committee called me and asked if I'd take his place in the big, televised tournament. In Vegas. And I said I would, because, hey, who wouldn't?"

"You're going to be in a big tournament?" Her voice was still angry sounding, and she was still shaking slightly, but it was obvious that Sierra was happy. "One on TV? Oh my gosh Cody this is so exciting! It's what you've always wanted, right?"

"Well, yeah, but...I didn't win to get in. I got picked. It's like they're expecting me to show up, be a laughingstock, and leave. But it's my first real chance in the big leagues and, uh, I want you guys to come with. Both of you, and Gwen too, but she's not here." Sierra hissed at the idea of anyone but her accompanying him on the trip, but she didn't really have any say in the matter, as it wasn't her decision who to allow. "I mean, I'm inviting a bunch of old friends and if they come, they come, but I really need you three there for me when I go back on the screen for the first time since the show that brought us all together."

"I'm totally happy for you that this is going to happen, but can we please not bring other ladies along? I don't want you accidentally marrying one of them when I'm around and so available." Batting her eyelashes, Sierra hoped that Cody would forgive her hissing and take words as a good backup for her stance. "Unless that's part of the plan, that is."

He gave her a look that would have made her realize her place if she had been paying attention to his facial expression. "It's never part of the plan. Besides, we all know that Gwen and I would never be anything more than friends, and me and Heather...um, yeah, there are several things wrong with me even thinking about that."

"Oh right, like the fact that she's still sort of engaged to the guy who once made you lose a million dollars. We can't forget that part."

"Last time I checked, throwing the ring he bought at his face then leaving his house kinda means the end of whatever engagement there was. Not like I would ever want to get with Cody, but we can't use the excuse that I already have someone when I don't." Although she was thrilled for Cody and what he had just said to them, Heather's mind wasn't fully in the conversation; rather, her thoughts were still drifting back to that song that had been so rudely shut off on her. And while it was out of place to ask for the music to come back on while they were discussing such big and exciting developments in their lives, she had the argument that they always listened to music while discussing the current events.

The song, when it returned to playing through the speakers of the car, was full of contradictions that seemed all too poignant in life, something that had been caught in the little amount of time it had been on the first time. Once it wrapped up, its title dropped in the last seconds, Heather asked only for them to play it again for her, because something about it resonated inside of her and she needed to hear it again to find out what that happened to be. While it could have easily been the references to lack of love, money, and thrill in life, she found the chorus, with its reminders that whatever goes around doesn't always come back around to everyone and that things were sometimes easier not to do them, much more relevant to life.

It wasn't right of her to have left the way she had, but it was going to be easier on her in the long run to not be married to a controlling jerk. She hadn't actually thought about that until listening through the song a second time, but that chorus made her wake up to the truth.

At the same time, it made Sierra squirm for reasons she wouldn't ever admit to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title comes from one of the songs mentioned in the fic! Please kudos or comment if you're enjoying this, to inspire me to finish up what I have left of this fic! (And a huge shout-out to the nice guest who left that beautiful comment last week! I got the biggest case of kicky feet from it!)


	7. What Reflects in the Mirror is Less Important Than What Doesn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things change over time, none more noticeably than what reflects when one stares at themselves in the mirror. There are several places in life that are meant for this sort of reflection. In a bathroom at an event venue in Vegas? Not so much. But the true judgment of character and friendship is not determined by what can be seen--it's determined by motives.

“You know, since she technically did break into your house last night, you have all the right in the world to let the authorities know. And you already have a team of lawyers right at your disposal, all free of charge. Just say the word and I can get her taken care of.” Courtney had been treated to the story of a lifetime at this visit, and she was more than ready to take care of business and prove that she was capable of doing something with her power. “So, can I please do the honors?”

“Why would you think that I would want her arrested? I told you already, she came in, grabbed some of her things, and then left. We exchanged no words, but she did look me in the eyes for a minute or two and it was as if she was trying to say something to me but could not find words strong enough to express the emotion. Maybe it was that she wants to come back, but her pride will not allow her to ask for such a thing.” Alejandro wanted no part of Courtney's odd obsession with causing trouble for anyone, especially not Heather, and although he had prefaced the story he had told with his desire to not punish her for it, he had fully expected for that to be the suggested outcome. “I am happy as long as she is happy, safe, and somewhere nearby. Why she came home for the sake of a suitcase and some clothes, who knows, but it is for the best.”

“For the best? She came and got whatever was left of her stuff from your place! That's not for the best, that's her wanting nothing more to do with you!” Standing up to seem more powerful than she really was, Courtney was scared back to her seat when the office door flew open and the sounds of other workers' voices could be heard. But it was Sierra who came walking in, talking on her phone the whole way. “Oh. It's just you. Late as usual, might I add.”

Sierra's response was to shush Courtney, sit down in her normal chair, and talk to whomever she was in a call with: “Yeah, I know, it's so exciting! We're all going to dress up and have fun cheering for him and you really should be there! I mean, everyone else is going to be all fancy, because that's what Codykins asked for, but I'm going to be different. He's got to notice that I'm his biggest fan and that I'm totally there for him. You're going to come, right?”

“She seems to be too interested in whatever she is going on about to care that she arrived late. Perhaps you should lie to her about what time to show up so that she is here on time.” It was hard to speak over the sound of the gushing happening in the very same room, while not being shushed for talking, but somehow Alejandro managed to do it. “Or perhaps you could get her off of her phone somehow. There is business we have with her.”

“Maybe you should do to her phone what you've done to two of mine now! Just grab it and throw it, and put an end to her being annoying so maybe we can get something done!”

“Uh, I can hear you, you know.” Saying that she'd talk to whoever was on the line later before hanging up, Sierra started to stare at Courtney, her eyes narrowing with every passing moment. “And just so you know, that was one of the best and coolest people to ever be on Total Drama, and I convinced her to come to Vegas with me and Cody and those other girls, ew, when we go for the next week!”

“Vegas?” Both of their voices intertwined when they asked, but it was only Alejandro who had anything to follow it with. “What are you going to be doing there?”

“Just the most awesomest thing ever, aside from finally getting to marry my Cody which isn't going to happen quite yet I don't think. He's going to be in a tournament, and be on TV, and it's going to be so great! Everyone's going...oh, wait...” Realizing who, exactly, she was speaking to, and who was going to be there, she instantly regretted saying anything. “You can't go though. It wouldn't be very pretty I don't think.”

“Not very pretty? Why would you say that? Surely the presence of someone as attractive as myself would make things much prettier.” He gave her a smile and she frowned at him in return. “Ah, it seems as if you are not going to believe that. I understand.”

She rolled her eyes as she kept frowning. “And you better also understand that this isn't the best time for you to be trying to get back with Heather, no matter how much I don't like having her around anymore. She doesn't want you around and that's just how it is.”

“I like to think the opposite, and that she is just unsure of how to bring up the proposition of returning to the relationship she had been in with me. After last night, I am sure that she will be counting the days until she is allowed to return to my arms.” Judging by the gasp and change in demeanor that Sierra went through, it was easy to tell that she wasn't quite in the know about what had happened the previous night. “Were you not told that she came to visit me?”

“She wouldn't! I mean, yeah you still have her stuff and she complains about that all the time, but really, what is there that you have of hers that would be any good to her now? Probably some stupid stuff, but that's not worth the trouble of seeing your face to get. I bet she went and got something to wear for while we're gone, and man I wish I could watch as she realizes that none of that stuff is going to come close to fitting her anymore. I bet it's just going to kill her inside.”

“Please do not say things like that. I do not want to even imagine her dying at this point. Besides, from what I saw of her last night, she looked fine. Of course, I was only paying attention to her face, but could there really be that much different about her?” As he spoke, it was easy to hear Alejandro actually thinking about having seen her not that long ago, and by the time his question was posed, he was asking himself the same thing inside. He _had_ just seen her the night before, but he had been too focused on her eyes and how they stared straight into his soul to even think about looking elsewhere.

“Trust me. I've been with her almost every day for the past several months. There is a lot, like a whole lot, different about her. How couldn't you notice? It's like, uh, a big change.”

* * *

In a scene that hadn't been all that common in recent memory, the couch bed was folded up, allowing for there to be people sitting on the sofa, and that was where Gwen and Cody found themselves, treated to the sounds of frantic screaming and almost crying coming through the wall behind them. “Why did you even suggest to her that she wouldn't have to buy something new for the occasion?” Cody asked, looking at Gwen while solemnly shaking his head. “You know she's going to come out here for your blood.”

“Look, I didn't think she was going to take me seriously. I get that she really likes what she has, but what she has are clothes meant for stick-skinny women, not ones that are eight months pregnant or whatever it is that she is. She's just going to have to face it that we'll have to go shopping again at some point, even though we've gone a million times already. I'm sure they have some cute maternity clothes shops where we're going.” Gwen sighed, resting her head on her hand. “Can you tell that I'm getting tired of being with her all the time? Why did I have to be the nice one to take her in through this?”

“Because if she stayed with me and Sierra, she'd be dead right now or I'd be handcuffed to Sierra's wrist, and neither of those options sound very good to me. You're doing everyone a favor by letting her stay here, trust me.” He tried to smile at his friend, but she looked so forlorn and unhappy that he couldn't muster it. “Hey, don't feel bad, you're getting your own room while we're gone so that's a week without having to deal with her at all hours.”

“A week. At least it's something, I guess, but that's if I survive until getting there. She might just kill me for this, like you said.” There wasn't much more to do than cross fingers and hope that no one would die from the situation at hand. And while there was much more screaming and yelling before there was even a chance of death, there was still the looming fear that Heather would come out from the bathroom she had locked herself in to try on clothes, and straight-up murder someone.

The fear ended up being for naught, for when the screams ended and the situation blew itself over, there was no hint of anger at either person who had been listening when she did emerge. In fact, for the longest time, the only way either of them knew she was done was the fact that all the clothes that had been retrieved from the house were thrown across the room, but that was it. There were no words, no other signs of life, until: “Why didn't you two warn me?”

“Warn you about what?” While he did know what, exactly, she was referring to, Cody didn't want to make it too obvious that he and Gwen had talked about that exact situation moments before. “Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing's wrong. I'm just kind of mad at myself—and you two, I guess—for allowing this to happen.” Her voice was eerily calm, given all the frustration she had been enduring. “You should have told me that there was no way that any of those things were going to fit. And now they're ruined because of this.”

“Ruined? You don't mean that, I'm sure.”

The sniffle that they heard invalidated Gwen's words, which made her feel somewhat sorry for having allowed this to happen. “This is worse than when I tried to wear my favorite pants that one time and I couldn't get the damn things close to on right. I had to put on sweatpants to go get something better to wear, and yet this is still worse.” She sniffled again, and the two on the couch looked between themselves. “All my cute dresses, all of them, I can't wear them. And when I _can_ wear them I won't because I stretched them so much to just try to get them on...”

“I don't mean to derail your pity train, but did you really expect your size zeroes to still fit you when you complain on a daily basis that you can't see your feet, or that you're so big that you can barely get your arms around yourself?” There was a counterargument, one that involved the mentioning of stretch material, and at the sound of it Gwen let out a long sigh. “It only stretches so far. My clothes stretch but if I stuck a watermelon under my shirt I'm sure it would rip.”

“Whatever. Point is, I don't have anything to wear to this tournament, and so I can't go. Guess you're going to have to leave me here, alone, by myself, with no one to help me when I drop something or need to get my shoes on.” There was less sniffling and more digs at getting pity in what she said, but neither Cody nor Gwen fell for it, knowing that there was nothing that would keep Heather from going with them, not even a lack of proper attire.

And that was where Gwen felt it was proper to suggest something she had mentioned prior to it being relevant. “I'm sure there are lots of places we could go in Vegas that could fix the problem you have with not having something to wear. I think, when we get there, we should go look for a place like that. You've been out there before, so maybe you'll have an idea or two of where to look.”

“Oh yeah, you two could do that at some point! I'm sure it would be one of the more fun things you'll get to do while we're there, too!” Cody grinned, happy that the suggestion had been made. “I think you two would have a good time if that's what you did.”

“We would...hm. I guess maybe you're right about that. Hopefully we won't have to do too much walking to get anywhere that I remember seeing, though.” At the mention of walking, she came out from the little underside of the loft bed and could feel the other two staring at her, much like they always did when she entered a room after them. “Hey, don't watch me walk! You guys know that it makes me uncomfortable to have you, uh, point out that I look fucking ridiculous.”

“It's not pointing out, it's admiring that someone once so small could blow up to the size of a blimp and yet still carry herself like she always has.” Gwen attempted to avert her gaze, but gave up after she heard the frustrated groan that Heather gave. “Well, you claimed we were doing something we're not. I had to tell you the truth.”

“I guess it's better for you to be brutally honest with me than it is to lie. Let's hope you keep the same mentality when we're out shopping.”

* * *

In an abrupt change of plans, the first thing they did when they had free time on their second day in Vegas was not go shopping. That was their original intention, but the sight of a hair salon gave the two ladies an idea that should have been dropped without any further exploration. “What if we decide to get our hair done while we're here? I've been meaning to get my color retouched, and you...well, you can do something, I'm sure.” Talking about hair styling was always a touchy subject around someone who had once had their hair forcibly shaved from her head, so it was a bit of a surprise to Gwen when her suggestion wasn't turned down.

“You know what? I think you're onto something. Do you think that I'd look good if I decided to change up my hair color?” They both laughed, as it was as funny suggestion to begin with, but when she started to actually ponder the idea and fall in love with it, it became a heartbreak when the stylist at the reception desk told Heather that she couldn't actually dye her hair, due to the presence of an almost-full-term child. Naturally, that meant she went for the next best idea, and several hours later, most of which were spent waiting for Gwen's hair to be done, the duo walked from the salon with new hair styles for them both. And while one of them had just done some minor changes, there was a huge difference when it came to the length of Heather's hair.

As in, she had gone from it being most of the way down her back, as it had been kept ever since it had grown back, to barely touching her shoulders. “Is this the first step in starting your new life?” she was jokingly asked by Gwen as they made their way through the shopping center they had gone to towards the first maternity wear store they could find. “Or is this an act of rebellion against someone who shall not be named?”

“Puh-leese, like I would let him dictate anything about how I look.” The quick glance that Gwen gave in her direction, one that made sure to linger on the swollen and protruding stomach that was the entire reason they were out shopping in the first place, made Heather rethink her words. “Okay, that doesn't count. This wasn't all his fault, and I'm sure he'd rather me not looking like a whale, but whatever. He doesn't get control over how I look, trust me.”

“Sounds reasonable to me. Do you think he'll want you back if he sees you chopped off all that hair you'd been working so hard to grow out?” It was a pressing question, one that had been on Gwen's mind since she had watched the stylist cut off what had to have been no less than a foot of hair. “Or maybe that's the point here, you're trying to make yourself look like someone he wants nothing to do with.”

“Based on how he didn't say a word to me when I went to his house to get my stuff, I don't think he wants me back anyway. And this haircut has nothing to do with him, promise! I just wanted something shorter, something easier to work with. That's all.” She flipped her hair, expecting something to drape itself over her shoulders but nothing happened. “It's going to take a bit to get used to it, though. My hair hasn't been this short in years...”

“I like it. You look like a different person with it. Now let's get you something to wear at the tournament so Cody doesn't have our heads when you aren't dressed for the occasion.” Always the one to bring the focus back to what was important, Gwen made sure they were back on the topic of clothing when they got to their destination. While it would have been a better idea for them to have found a different store, as the one they had found seemed to think that it was attractive for pregnant women to wear things that either were so baggy they looked like a tent, or so tight that it looked like the fabric was just part of the skin.

Due to her skinny girl nature, where everything she wore was as tight as it could be, Heather instantly gravitated to dresses of the second variety. Most of the options looked terrible on her, a fact that Gwen made sure to tell her several times, but there were a couple that actually looked pretty decent, although none of them were exactly attractive on her—mostly because she was so large and so different from how she normally was. But her heart was set on still dressing herself up in the same way she always had, and that was why she settled on buying a long, skin-tight, black dress that hugged every curve that being pregnant had given her.

It also had the added bonus of making her look slightly smaller than she was, and that had to have been the ultimate decision maker. “If I've got to dress up, why not dress up in something that at least attempts to hide the fact that I'm fucking huge?” she asked with a smile, as they were leaving the store. “That way, unless someone touches me or I have to reach for something, no one will be able to tell that I've blown up like I have.”

“Except, you know, it's still really easy to tell that you aren't what you used to be. Which is fine, since you are carrying what will probably be the next reality show equivalent to Satan whenever she's old enough to do that kind of thing.” As the smile fell, Gwen couldn't help but crack one herself. “Sorry to break that to you, but you know it's true.”

“Oh, I know it's true. I'm just, uh, sad that it's still super obvious. Do you think I should have gotten one of those curtain dresses instead?”

“Nah, you hiding your figure is more of a dead giveaway than you flaunting what you've got. I mean, you made the best of being bald when you were, so what's to say people would expect anything but you rocking your baby belly?” Giggles were suppressed by biting tongues as that was said, but they both succumbed to laughter because, honestly, hearing Gwen say such a immature term was one of the better things to have happened in a long time.

That night was the first round of the televised tournament, the very reason that the shopping trip had happened when it did, and thanks to all the walking that going to the shops had required, plus the on-foot trip to the casino that held the tournament, both women were tired when they got in and through the gates. Of course, one was much more tired than the other, and no sooner than they had found their section did Heather demand for someone to move out of her way to let her get to her seat. “Who do you think you are?” the person who had been the target of the demands asked, standing up and readying herself for a fight. “I ain't scared of someone who thinks she can make me move!”

“Great. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Leshawna, please move the fuck out of my way, before I decide to just squeeze by you. You wouldn't want that, and I really just want to sit down and get off my feet.” It was the truth, because walking around with so much extra weight situated on her body was more of a chore than anything, and by that point Heather had been on her feet for many hours without real rest. “So don't make a scene and just let me by, thanks.”

“Nuh uh, I will never just stand by and let you do anything. I don't care if it's been years since you were a bitch to me, I am not letting you sit next to me.” Leshawna still held a grudge, and even when Gwen said something (from behind Heather) about just letting it go for the night, she refused. “I got one chance to beat this scrawny girl up, and it screwed me over. This time, there's nothing stopping me from rearranging her face.”

The threat sent shivers down Heather's spine, and she crossed her arms over her face to protect it. “Please don't hurt me! I can't let you hurt me and make my baby suffer too!”

Even in the darkened seating area, it was easy to see Leshawna's face go neutral for a second, before her eyes widened. “Hold up, did you just say baby? Like, lover baby, or small human baby? You've gotta be specific.”

“Does it _look_ like I have anyone I'd consider a lover here with me?” Heather brought her arms away from her face, and put her hands on her back to try and make it hurt a little less from all the weight it was having to support. “If you would have tried to touch me I think you would have figured out the answer yourself, so move out of the way now, please.”

Understanding why she had been asked to move out of the way in the first place, Leshawna was more than happy to step aside and let Heather through, with Gwen following right behind. Once the two of them were seated, she retook her spot and leaned forward to look at the other two, the angle at which she was looking giving her a good view of the sizable stomach on Heather. “Holy hell girl, how'd you manage to get yourself out here? You can't just go places lookin' like you're about to burst like that.”

“Says the woman who literally almost punched me because I needed to sit down. You couldn't even tell I was pregnant until now, so I don't think you have any right to judge my choice to come out here. Why are you even here, anyway? No one said you were going to be here.” Since sitting had taken the pressure off of her back and feet, she was using her hands to spots on her stomach that were sore from the baby kicking at them. “I bet you're surprised to not be the biggest one here, aren't you?”

“If you weren't toting around someone's love child inside you, I'd hurt you for that.” Leshawna laughed, sitting up to look at Gwen instead. “Nah, this precious woman here told me that ol' Cody was gonna be in this tournament, and I figured if I was already in town for the week, why not stop by and visit with some good friends?”

“I'm happy I was able to get you to come see this instead of that concert. I bet you could use the time away from H-bomb and his beatboxing,” Gwen said, putting an arm over Leshawna's shoulders. “The way you talked about him, it sounded like you've had enough.”

Leshawna nodded as she thought about what had been said. “Mmhmm, girl, you got that right. I love the string bean and all, but sometimes I gotta get away from the noises he makes, especially since he found a friend who makes 'em just as good. Gets on my nerves sometimes, and I don't think I'd survive another night of listening to it. Some fun rounds of pool might get my mind off of terrible beatboxing for a while.”

“Hey, don't be putting down his beats. He's good for a white guy.” One of the people in the row in front of them turned to look back at Leshawna, but when he turned, Gwen gasped at seeing him. “Whoa, did I startle you? Sorry there, uh...Gwen?”

“Trent? What the fuck are you doing here?” The words fell from her mouth faster than she could stop them, and she covered her mouth in shock. “I didn't mean for that to sound rude! I'm just, wow, you're here.”

He turned more to see both Leshawna, who by the way she was glancing at Gwen knew that he was going to be there all along, and Gwen herself. “'Course I'm here. I've got my ex-bandmate's back, and if he needs someone to cheer for him, I'm there.”

“That's really nice of you, actually. Wish he had warned me that you'd be here, though, especially since we haven't talked in a long time and I know you used to be crazy about me and seeing you is bringing up a bunch of emotions that I wish I wasn't going to have to face right now.” Gwen bit her lip to silence herself, knowing that if she didn't control her speech, she'd ramble herself into a hole of feelings.

“Don't worry, I'm not even thinking about you in a romantic way, if that's what you're worrying about. In fact, I'll just turn around and you can forget I'm even here, just so you feel better.” He winked before turning back around, and once he was back the way he had started she let out a long sigh, which he thankfully didn't hear.

“Must suck, having a surprise ex come into the equation,” Leshawna commented, nudging Gwen with her shoulder. “At least he knew to leave you alone, right?”

Gwen thought for a second, before nodding. “Yeah, thank goodness. I didn't come here expecting to see him, and I'd really rather not have to deal with that. Not today.”

“Tomorrow maybe?” Trent asked, still listening to the conversation he had just said he was going to leave. “Or maybe the day after? I'll be around.”

“Leave her alone, will you?” Instead of it being either of the women already involved in the conversation, it was Heather getting herself included. “She already has to deal with me being needy all the time, she doesn't need you getting on her too.”

He took the hint, and it was Leshawna who had something to say about what got him to back off. “I didn't know that you were playing the role of a baby daddy, Gwen. Why didn't you tell me that last time we talked?”

“I'm just being a good friend, that's all. Don't read more into this than you need to.” Her eyes narrowing at the person her arm was around, she hoped that there would be no more mention of the father position of the child currently residing inside of Heather's body. “It's a complicated situation and that's all anyone needs to know.”

“Trust me, Sierra hooked a sister up about the details, and I know that you're being the sweetie we all knew you were.” At the mention of her name, Sierra turned around from a few rows ahead of them, wildly flailing her arms while wearing a shirt that read “Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson's future girlfriend” with the word future crossed out on it. “She hooked me up with some blog posts and I didn't believe it until I saw the evidence sittin' right over there.” Leshawna motioned towards Heather, who rolled her eyes. “Damn girl really did get herself knocked up by that tall, tanned, and handsome fucker, didn't she?”

“Don't mention him. Really. It's a bad idea and you should—“

“I happened to be engaged to him at the time, okay? We were being lovers, and lovers sleep together and one night we just decided that we could screw the rules and fuck without caring about consequences. And then this happened and he went crazy and I left his sorry ass like he never meant a thing to me. Which he meant a lot to me at some point, but you can't control me and still expect me to love you.” After apologizing to Gwen for cutting her off, Heather continued on with her explanation for why things happened. “Yeah, okay, he's really attractive, and I fell for him so fucking hard somewhere not that far from here, but he's also a jerk. A dick. Someone who has no right to ever so much as get to see a hair on his child's head.”

“Whoa there, aren't you being a bit rough about that? Don't you think the idea of being a father changed him a bit? I know lots of guys in the hood that snapped when they started havin' kids, but they ended up being good dads. Something tells me that if you gave him a chance, Alejandro would be excellent at raising that baby. And we both know how manipulative he can be, so who's to say that kid won't end up being the same way?” Leshawna had gotten to her feet and skirted around Gwen to get right in front of Heather. “And really, between you and him, I'd pick him to raise anything and not kill it.”

Her jaw dropped in shock of what she had just heard, but before she could verbalize the anger that was building, a sharp pain hit her in the side, right where one of her hands had been rubbing before. “Ow! This damn kid made me forget what I was about to say to you, you rude, mean...ugh!”

“Ha, serves you right. Now c'mon, I know we were fighting and all just then, but you wouldn't mind if I tried to feel the little bugger, would you?” Bending down to get closer, Leshawna looked at Heather with a smile and eager hands, and what she got in return was a sigh and permission to touch. “Thanks, girl. If you ended up being friends with Gwen you couldn't really have been all bad inside. Now tell me more about this kiddo, will ya?”

“Like what? You've got to give me specific things you want.”

“How about the basics. You look like you're gonna pop while you're sitting here, so let's start with knowing how much longer you've gotta keep the little thing in there. And what's its name?” Her hands were touching fabric, feeling around for the kicks and movements that had stopped the argument just moments earlier. “At that, I don't even know what it is. Sierra wouldn't tell me that.”

“Of course she wouldn't. She tells you I'm having a baby and doesn't mention anything else. Sounds about par for the course with her.” Heather was speaking through tiny ripples of pain that were being directly caused by the hands on her, and the little feet inside her that wanted to play with said hands. “But anyway, uh, I'm eight months along. Thirty-two weeks. So if I was to pop right here, it wouldn't be the end of the world or anything, but it wouldn't be great either. Even though I'm totally ready to be done looking like an overinflated balloon and just have my little princess in my arms.”

“Little princess? That's about the cutest thing I think I'll ever hear you say. She seems like a feisty one like her daddy, though. Do you have a problem with that?” Wherever Leshawna moved her hands, the kicks seemed to follow, until they stopped abruptly and she pulled away. “If I were in your situation, I think I'd be a bit disappointed.”

Heather shrugged, unsure exactly what to feel about it. “Okay, so while I don't have to let him see her, it doesn't mean that I can't let her know about him. And I know exactly how much his family pride means to him, and if I can use that against him in any way I'm going to. That's why her name is going to be Spanish themed, so that she knows all about the pride of her dad's side of her family.”

“Sounds to me like you've still got some feelings for that devil, don't you?” Laughing as she went back to her seat, Leshawna didn't seem to realize right away that while she knew where the name came from, she didn't know what it was. When she did realize it, she made that fact clear: “Wait a second, what's the name?”

“I decided I wasn't going to tell you when you insisted that I still have feelings for Alejandro. Which I don't. If I did, I'd be with him right now.” Her voice got quiet to say the other reason, the one that was more important and most likely the real one. “And I don't want to risk Sierra hearing me say it and tell the world what my sweet princess will be named, because she ruined the news of me being pregnant in the first place. I can't imagine what she'd do if she found this out too.”

“She doesn't mean anything by what she does, so she wouldn't hurt you. We've talked about that before.” Gwen, who had gone silent during all the gushing over the baby, decided that it was time for her to speak up again. “Sierra's just really misguided when it comes to telling the difference between private and public information. Besides, she hasn't told the world it's a girl, so there's some hope for her.”

Hearing her name again, Sierra waved frantically at the three, who all waved back at her. “Guys, I can't believe I actually convinced someone to come to this thing with us!” she yelled, disturbing anyone around the section who cared about whoever was on the floor playing in their match. “Look, look, I brought Izzy!”

“Oh no, I am not going to deal with Izzy being around me,” Heather said, getting to her feet. “I'm going to go lock myself in the closest bathroom and not come out until I know that she's long gone. I'm okay with Leshawna's man-hands touching me, but not the hands of a psycho.” The two ladies beside her got as far into their seats as they could, letting the standing woman get by them as best as she could, and there was only a little bit of glaring that came from Leshawna as she passed, most likely because of the comment on the manliness of her hands.

The bathroom closest to the event hall they were in was just a short walk away, and surprisingly it was empty aside from one of the casino workers who was cleaning it. When the worker saw Heather come in, she quickly finished up her job, leaving as soon as she could. That left her alone, which is what she had wanted when she left her seat with her friend. “Ugh, this is such a dumb reason to leave home,” she told herself as she looked in the full-body mirror at herself. “And such a dumb reason to get all dressed up like this. I really do look like I'm about to pop...”

“I happen to think you look beautiful,” a voice behind her said, and she cringed at the sound. “But I'm sure you don't believe me, or whatever.”

“Go away, Sierra.”

“No, I think we need to talk. And what better place is there to have a good old-fashioned meeting than the bathroom?” Sierra approached her, her reflection in the mirror getting more life-sized until she was right next to Heather. “Before you worry, I left my phone with Izzy so she could get some shots of my Codykins playing while I come in here and talk to you.”

“I don't think you understand what I just said. You need to go away. You are literally one of the last people I want to be around right now. Hell, I'd prefer going and seeing Alejandro for a few minutes again to being stuck anywhere with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, them easily resting on the top of her stomach, which was aflutter with little baby hiccups that would have been adorable if it weren't for the situation. “Just go back and cheer for Cody and leave me alone.”

Sierra was never one to take no for an answer, and while she did want to go watch the tournament, she felt there was more to do in the bathroom than anywhere else. “I know you hate me for breaking your news to the world, but that was so long ago and can't you forgive me for that? That's no reason for you to still have a problem with me.”

“My problem with you has nothing to do with you telling the world that I'm going to be a mom! It comes from the fact that you're weird, you know too much, and you suspect me of the weirdest things! I heard you on the plane ride out here, asking Cody if he was positive that he hadn't slept with me and made this baby. Can't you just accept that no one wants him except you, and he wants no one, including you?” Pent-up anger was a dangerous thing, especially for someone whose hormones weren't exactly balanced, and with that Heather started to cry. “I just want you to stop being so weird...”

“I don't get how I'm being weird. I'm always covering my bases when it comes to my Cody, and I know you didn't sleep with him. There's never a night that I'm not nearby, and I would definitely know if he had slept with anyone that isn't a blanket.” She laughed awkwardly, but it did nothing to reverse the other's tears. “Listen, I'm sorry about everything I've done to you. Not sorry about everything I've done for you, but sorry about what I've done to you.” Before Heather got a chance to ask what she meant by that, she was gone, leaving her alone once again in the bathroom.

Having tears rolling down her pale cheeks made for her reflection to be even more interesting. A face normally done up in makeup was mostly bare, aside from a few waterproof things done to the eyes, framed with hair that had barely been at its current length for a day. She lingered on staring at her hair for a moment, letting a small smile creep onto her mouth as she did, No matter how much she had loved her long hair, short was what worked better for her—not to mention that was how her hair had been when she fell in love for the first time. Maybe it was a sign as to a new love coming around soon.

From there, her eyes traveled downward, to a body covered in a tight black dress that made everything more pronounced than it normally was, but especially the large stomach that just seemed out of place on her body, that was currently filled with little flutters that felt almost like tiny kisses. “What did I do to deserve this?” she asked herself out loud, hoping that no one would come in and hear her talking to herself. “What did I do so wrong that made it okay to make me fall for an asshole, get pregnant with his child, and then decide it was best to leave him because he was doing weird things? I might have money, but I can't raise a baby on my own!”

She was breaking back down into tears, sobbing as she continued to speak. “I don't know what I'd do if this happened, but if he wanted to take me back, I'd like to know he still cares. That he doesn't want me back for the baby, but for me. I might not go back, but I'd like to know that the offer stands...”

From where she stood just outside the door, Sierra heard every word, and with a smile she pulled the phone that she had sworn was in Izzy's possession out of her pocket. “The best reason to not follow the dress code Codykins gave me, so that I can have pockets! Al is going to be so happy when he sees what I'm about to tell him!”

* * *

Per Courtney's insistence, and also the cover of attempting to be sneaky, Alejandro had gotten on the next plane that left for Vegas after the one the others had gone on, just so that he could safely get to his destination without there being any trouble. With the help of Sierra, who had known every detail of the trip and knew roughly exactly where everyone was going to be and when they would be there, he had come up with a way to get to see Heather for longer than he had when she returned home. It was going to take expert timing, some luck, and a lot of hoping that he wasn't making all of this effort for nothing.

He had been lounging in his suite that he had booked for himself when he got the text that assured him that what he was doing had some meaning. In typical Sierra manner, it was a long, roundabout message, but what it meant was all too clear: if he went to Heather and asked for her to come back to him, there was some chance that she would agree to it. That meant that he could hastily finish up the wedding plans with Courtney, get married, and forever stop the fear of having a child out of wedlock, and that was what he wanted most.

The tournament was going to conclude for the day at ten, and players were going to be released by eleven. The plan that was proposed to him was a simple one: intercept the group as they left the player entrance at eleven, give the precious engagement ring back to its proper owner, and right all the wrongs of the past several months. It was as foolproof as it was going to get, and there was no way that someone as determined as Sierra to getting the two back together was going to let something go wrong.

Problem was, she let something go very, very wrong, and that was that, while she had been able to listen in on a private confession about lingering feelings, she wasn't able to get Heather to leave the bathroom she had hidden herself away in. And while that would not have been much of a problem otherwise, it was someone enamored with her own reflection that they were dealing with, and once she had attached herself to the mirror she was not going to go anywhere without force. Sierra figured that she would leave once the announcement was made that the tournament had concluded for the day, but there was one problem with that: the announcement couldn't be heard in that particular bathroom.

From the hiding spot he had been directed to go to, Alejandro got a view of exactly half of the group of people he recognized, and within that half was no one he particularly cared about, aside from Sierra. She kept looking in his direction, her eyes wide with worry that something was amiss, but he was too far to tell anything other than that she kept facing him. As eleven approached his nerves began to take over, much like they had that night so long ago on the boat. Going back to the place it had all began was fitting, he decided, especially when this was going to be his reproposal to the woman he loved with all of his heart.

Five minutes before eleven, the competitors were released, and after most of the crowd of people carrying pool cues had cleared out, the group he had been waiting for made their move. As they passed where he was standing, he ran out to them, calling out Heather's name and looking around for her. Alas, she was not there, and the first person he got to was the woman who had guaranteed her presence. He grabbed Sierra's arm, pulling her close into him. “Where is she?” he asked, his voice shaking. “Where is my darling?”

Too terrified to speak, she looked to Cody for some sort of support. While he may have been scrawny and slender, he was holding a long-range weapon of sorts, which he pointed straight into Alejandro's face. The situation was tense enough at that point, but seeing Sierra being held by someone that he hated made something snap within him. “Let go of my girlfriend, you dick.”

“Girlfriend? Y-you called me your...girlfriend?” Sierra's voice was small with fear, but much like what had caused Cody to make that word slip out, the situation got to her and she lashed out. Her free hand went straight for his face, one of her feet straight to his groin. Being hit in one of those places would have been enough to send any man to the floor, but with how much he protected his face, it was that punch that caused him to let go of Sierra and drop to his knees.

All the while, Gwen and Leshawna were headed to the last place they had known Heather to be, to make sure she was okay and well aware of what had just transpired. They didn't know that it had actually been her fault it had happened, and no one was going to know that. From that moment on, there wasn't going to be any helping of the “enemy.” All because Cody let one word slip and Sierra would never, ever go against someone who called her their girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this concludes what is my favorite chapter of the fic thus far! I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I do, and to the guest who's been leaving comments, I hope this is as great to you as the preceding chapters are!!


	8. Familiar Places, (Un)friendly Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for people to face consequences for what they've done: Sierra's double-crossing is about to come to light, Alejandro's got a pool cue in his face for his appearance, and...Heather's not so much as told about a party? While that may not seem like much of a consequence at all, it is when that means she's alone. In Vegas. Where things of an interesting nature tend to happen to her.

“What do you mean, he's here?” The question was frantic, and rightfully so; never in a million years had Heather actually expected Alejandro to follow her anywhere after what had happened the last time he had. “Are you sure it's not someone else?”

“It was his voice, trust me. I'd remember those sultry tones anywhere.” Leshawna shook her head, not really knowing what the big deal was about him being around, but based on what little she did know of the situation, it was a very bad idea to have him be anywhere near where Heather was. “He came out callin' for you and that was when Gwen said we had to find you.”

“I don't believe that it was actually him. How would he know I'm here? Better yet, how did you two know I was in _here_? This has got to be one of like ten bathrooms in this place!” A suspicious look was what Heather gave the two ladies, who then looked between themselves. “What's going on that I don't know about?”

Gwen put her hands on Heather's shoulders to get her to stop thinking they had done anything wrong. “We know as much as you do, which isn't much at all. We heard Alejandro, we came for you. I've been working too damn hard to be your friend to let you get used by him again.”

“That still doesn't explain how you knew I was in here!”

“Izzy told us while we were waiting for Cody to be done. And she was probably told by Sierra, since she followed you here forever ago. Why didn't you come back when she came back, by the way? It was worrying us a lot.” Gwen moved back, letting go of the shoulders she had been holding. “Something could have been wrong and no one would have been around to help you.”

“Nothing was going to be wrong. I got caught up in my thoughts and my reflection and decided that being alone was better than being stuck in a place around people who knew me.” Heather turned to look at her reflection once more, before sighing. “And now I guess he's here so that's great. Just great. How are we going to leave this place if he's around looking for me?”

No one had an answer, so Leshawna volunteered herself to go scout out the situation, because if anyone wouldn't be regarded as suspicious if he saw them, it would be her. While she was gone, the two left behind were silent, one of them anxious as to what would happen if he was still looking, and the other too busy still looking at herself in the mirror to really care. “I couldn't find him, or the others,” Leshawna said when she came back, poking her head into the bathroom. “Guess it means it's go time. Where are you staying?”

“Across the street. Hopefully we can get out of here fast enough to avoid being caught. Now let's go.” It took some coaxing to get Heather from the mirror, but soon the three ladies were going as fast as they possibly could to get through the casino, across the street, and into the hotel that two of them were staying at. The entire time, Gwen was trying to get any of the others to answer their phones to tell her what had happened, and by the time they got to their floor she still hadn't gotten any response. “I don't know what happened to them. Do you think they caused a scene, got in trouble, something like that?”

“Ooh girl, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Last I saw, he had his hands on Sierra and we both know she won't gonna take that from him.” Leshawna laughed, looking down the hall they were walking down. “Which room belongs to you guys? I wanna make sure you are safe before I go back to my place.”

“Well, technically, our rooms are across the hall from each other, but because of all this and the fact that if he's a sneaky enough bastard to find her here, I think I'll be staying in her room tonight. Just to make sure everything's fine.” Because Gwen had been the smart one and brought a purse with her, she had both her stuff and Heather's, and therefore she was able to get into the room that wasn't hers by using a room key she had been given for safekeeping. The room was thankfully dark and quiet when they all entered, the only lights being those coming in through the window. “I can't believe that happened. Really.”

“I can.” It was the first thing Heather said since they had left the bathroom at the venue, and she said it with a snappish tone. “It's him still trying to control me even after I left him. He wants me back, I know it.”

“I'm pretty sure we could have guessed that if he followed you out here. We're going to make sure he doesn't get the chance to get you back though. You deserve better.” Gwen smiled at her and she frowned back, before loosening up and smiling too. “See, I knew you agreed with me. Why don't we just call it a night and wait for the others to say they're okay?”

There wasn't any arguing against that plan.

* * *

“Why did you follow us out here? Better yet, how did you manage to find out where we were, when we were going to be there, and who was with us?” Cody hadn't given up on shoving his pool cue in the face of the person he was interrogating, even though they had changed their location from the middle of the walkway to a dark entryway. “And why were you calling for someone who left you?”

“You clearly do not understand the pain of having someone and then losing them, as you find it fair to attack me for doing what any lover would.” Alejandro had a hand covering the part of his face that Sierra had punched, which had become swollen and presumably bruised from the hit. “I think you should step back and think about what you are doing before you continue.”

In response, Cody pushed the cue a bit closer to him. “I know what I'm doing. Sierra, start asking questions.”

There was a little hesitation as Sierra thought about what to ask—after all, she knew why Alejandro was there and how he had gotten there, even if she was deeply regretting ever wanting to help him in the first place. “Why did you come all the way out here looking for Heather?” she finally asked, hoping that her hesitant behavior would inspire Alejandro to play along and not tell anyone that she had been involved.

“Because this is where our romance became more than ever before, and where else is a better place to fix the wrongs than where it started?” With his one eye that was visible, he glared in Sierra's direction, knowing that while she was how he had gotten his information, there was no chance of him getting anything else from her, including pity. “Someone invited me to come to this event that you were taking part in, and as I know how well of friends you and my Heather are, I assumed that it would all work out. How wrong I was!”

“Someone invited you?” Cody's eyes widened and he pulled the cue back a bit. “Who?”

“Does it matter? No, I would say it does not, because you never wanted me here in the first place. And my idea of taking advantage of my prime opportunity was ruined by the fact that she was not with you when I encountered you all, and then I was attacked. You are aware that I could call for security about this and get you in trouble for what has happened, correct?” He slyly smiled, hoping that it would get him out of the corner with a wooden stick in his face.

There was no such luck. “You're the one who was stalking someone, and you're the one who grabbed Sierra! If anyone would get in trouble for this, it would be you, you creep!”

“Yeah! You'd get in trouble for randomly going after me when the person you wanted wasn't even around. Why me, anyway?” No sooner had she asked did Sierra regret even opening her mouth, because the sly smile on Alejandro's face only got more wily. “I-I mean, you don't have to say why, but it's probably 'cuz you know I know things and stuff.”

“Oh Sierra, you and I both know why I chose you to grab when I had such a variety of people, none of which were the person you specifically promised would be there.” The pool cue was pressed into his uncovered cheek but it didn't faze him in the slightest, and he was dead set on answering a question that should not have been asked. “What, did you begin to rethink helping me try to get her back? What gain do you have if she keeps tagging along with you wherever you go? I thought you thought she and your precious Cody were a thing.”

“They're not, duh, anyone with eyes would see that.” Sierra was getting flustered, everyone who wasn't Cody or Alejandro looking at her with suspicion. “You're really bad at making up lies to get me in trouble.”

“Lies, you say? Why would I need to lie, when I have evidence of your betrayal of your friends? I have made sure to keep every message you sent me over the past year, from the time we planned my original trip here to just earlier tonight. You helped me for the sake of making Cody yours, and you should own up to that.” He finished by grabbing the cue and pushing it away from his face, before pulling it closer to him, dragging Cody with it. “Either to everyone, or just to your supposed darling, who must be regretting calling you his girlfriend.”

“You must be crazy, because I would never be in cahoots with someone that my Codykins doesn't like.” Sierra's eyes were darting all around, hoping no one was noticing that she was trying her hardest to keep up her lie, and no one did notice.

Until Izzy, who was listening intently a few steps away started laughing much like a hyena. “Oh man, Sierra, you are so busted!” she said, laughing after every few words. “This is why I didn't take the job, not enough reward on my part.”

“Izzy! I knew inviting you was going to be a very bad idea somehow! Shush!”

“Sorry, but it's just so funny that you invited him here, told him where we were going to be, and now you can't just say that. Man oh man, I am going to be laughing about this for a long time.” With that, she wiped a laughter tear from her eye and sighed. “Classic misstep.”

“Sierra,” Cody calmly said, as he was collecting himself from being pulled around by his pool cue, “ we are going to have a discussion about this later. If what they're saying is true—“

“Which it is!” Izzy shouted, before howling with laughter again.

“—then we are going to have a long, long talk about this. I thought you were better than this and you really have broken my trust.” To say he was displeased would have been putting it lightly, and no matter how much she swore up and down that it was all lies, and that she didn't know what was going on, the evidence was laid out and there was really no denying the truth.

They went back on their way to their hotel after a minute or two, leaving behind Alejandro, who was still sitting in the corner with half of his face covered, and Izzy, who was still laughing. “I must say, you would have done a better, more reliable job at what Sierra couldn't,” he said as he got to his feet. “Why did you refuse the offer I presented you back when I needed you?”

“Easy, do you think that I would willingly get myself involved in some dumb romance stuff? You weren't asking for enough. Now if you had offered the bounce house like I had wanted, maybe you and Heather would have gotten back together and stayed back together.” Izzy grinned, putting a finger to her chin as she thought about what she would have done. “You know, I am very persuasive in like eight languages. I've told the RCMP to get off my back in squirrel before. They didn't get it, but the squirrels sure did!”

“Uh, well then. I am glad to hear that you can speak squirrel, although I am not entirely sure what use of a skill that is.” He looked at her with his uncovered eye, eyebrow raised as he did. “Now I have another question for you: why are you still here?”

“No reason, just didn't want to go back quite yet I guess. Since I'm not allowed on any gambling floors, oops, I really should go back and stop fraternizing with the enemy. Even though I'm just gonna go talk to Sierra, and she's as much the enemy as you are. Bye, Al!” With a small handwave and a maniacal chuckle, Izzy darted off into the main hall and off to wherever she was staying, leaving him standing there, alone, with a banged-up face and no idea of what to do next.

Ideally, he would have called Courtney to let her know that the genius plan that Sierra had come up with, that she had forced him into taking part in, had fallen apart spectacularly. But timezones were a nuisance that made it far too early in the morning where she was to be calling her, and he really didn't feel like talking about the failure he had endured quite then. It was one thing to be attacked by someone who he had trusted, but it was another to not have been able to go through with a confession of love that he had been meaning to do for a while.

It was only adding salt to the wound when he got back to his room, where he had flowers waiting that he had wanted to give to the woman he loved when he managed to sweep her off her feet again and bring her back with him. There was nothing he could do about them, except lock them in the room's closet and try to forget they were there, something impossible when he had gotten his hopes up so high about the situation. Then when morning came, after a sleepless night of just laying there, thinking about what could have been, he was the recipient of a phone call that he really wanted no part of by that time. “So, how did it go?” Courtney's eager voice asked, and he knew that she was looking for the answer that would give her the most opportunity to make binding contracts and whatnot.

“It did not.” Three words were enough to get his point across, coupled with the annoyed tone that he was even having to talk about it. “Now that you know that, I am going to end this call.”

“Don't! What happened? Did she reject you? Break your heart again? I told you that fake restraining order would have been the best course of action, but nope, you had to listen to Sierra when she said she knew everything about their trip out there. This is why you listen to the person with applicable life experience, not some girl living in her dreams!” Even through the phone, he could hear Courtney rustling through a stack of papers. “I'll put together a quick document for when you return, that incriminates Sierra for falsely leading you on, and will get you back every penny you spent on getting out there. It's foolproof!”

“Do not waste your time on that. I have a plan of my own, and this does not involve Sierra in any way, as she scorned me by attacking me when I approached her about her failure. The next time I see her, I will have to thank her for giving me that information you lauded as useless, because with it, I will be able to make my Heather mine once again, I just know it.” Without planning on formally ending the call, he was about to hang up, but Courtney had to say something seconds before he was able to press the button.

“And what if it doesn't work? Are you going to give up? I already have a lawsuit against her waiting if you need it.”

In that moment, he wished he had just gone through with hanging up anyway. “We are not suing anyone, especially not the one woman I desire most to call mine!”

“Yikes, sorry I even brought it up, but if she doesn't want you, maybe it's time you move on to someone else. Someone you know has your back, who won't just leave you because she's crazy.” If he hadn't already been sure of who she was referring to, she cleared up any confusion with her next statement: “I remember when you used to be interested in me, Al. Let's just go back to that, forget about all this 'being in love with Heather' stuff that almost got you killed in the past, and be happy. What do you say?”

He hung up, unwilling to even touch that topic. There was no chance that he'd forget about Heather, and he was going to make things work. No matter what.

* * *

After the third day of the tournament, there was a break for a single night, and that night happened to fall on April Fools' Day, or more importantly, Cody's birthday. While it was enough for him to not have to take part in any play that day, it was a very exciting added bonus to be somewhere with so much to do on the one day of the year where he could convince people to do things for him. The plan, put together by him and a few of the others who he was on good terms with, was to go out to a club and party until they got kicked out.

There were two people explicitly excluded from the festivities of everyone who he had in his cheering section, and one of them knew that not being allowed to go was part of the punishment she deserved for what she had done. The other was Heather, and she had no idea that anything was going on at all, which was also part of the plan. Already feeling bad enough that being anywhere but her hotel room wasn't safe, Cody decided that it would be for the best if she didn't know that everyone was going to be partying until after the fact, so that she didn't get jealous and wish she was there.

But before everyone left, three people knocked on her room's door, and each one changed the night in ways that he hadn't wanted it to change. The first one was the only person who both knew about the party and wasn't going to be there, Sierra. It was around dusk when she came knocking, wanting to apologize for at least some of the wrongs she had made. The problem was, no one had bothered to tell Heather that it had been Sierra who had betrayed her. “I'm sorry if I'm bothering you,” Sierra said once she was let in the room and the door closed tight behind her. “I've just got to get this off my chest before I go drown my miseries somewhere.”

“What do you mean 'drown your miseries'? You seemed perfectly happy earlier when I saw you. And yesterday. And ever since you got here. Are you looking for pity or something?” In the time it had taken her to ask that, Heather had gotten back into the position she had been in when Sierra knocked, sitting in the only chair in the room, her feet propped up onto the bed beside her. “If you want pity, I'm pretty sure I'm the last person you should go to.”

Sierra's face fell. “S-someone told you?”

“Told me what? I'm just saying that I don't give pity to anyone, unless they really deserve it.”

“Then maybe I should just go. I mean, we both know that if I've got problems, I'm probably looking for pity...” She backed up into the door she had just closed, fumbling for the handle without looking. “Sorry for bothering you.”

“Did I say you had to go? If you want to get something off your chest, there's not much for me to do but listen to it, so talk away, I guess.” The fumbling for the door handle stopped, and Sierra cautiously approached the chair-and-bed setup, carefully sitting next to the pillows with the feet on them. “Why are you being so weird? I invited you to talk, shouldn't you be happy about that?”

There was a bit of a nod, but then Sierra swallowed down hard and looked positively panicked. “I am happy, sure! If by happy you mean completely worried that I'm going to say something that I shouldn't and—oh, I've said too much already.” Just like that, she hopped off the bed and went running for the door, because she was fully aware what the next words were going to be that came out of her mouth, and they were something she was absolutely not supposed to mention.

“Stop running and get back over here!” She froze mid-step, turning her head to see just how serious the look on Heather's face was about her not leaving. It was quite serious, and so she went back to where she had been seated moments before. “Okay, now don't run away again and tell me what the fuck your problem is, please. You're normally weird but now you're just being insane.”

“I'm sorry, really, but I was told by my Codykins that I'm not allowed to tell you anything, and the last thing I want to do right now is get in more trouble with him. I'm lucky that he didn't put me on the first plane back to Canada for what I did, heh.” Sierra fiddled with her fingers a bit, hoping that her answer would suffice.

As was to be expected, she had left more questions than answers. “Trouble? You two seemed fine yesterday after he was done with his game. Did you get caught drooling on him this morning or something?”

“Not exactly. But I'm not going to tell you, I promised I wouldn't. Now please let me leave before I tell you about the party that we're not allowed to go to.” When she realized that she had let slip the, admittedly, lesser of the two secrets she was supposed to keep, Sierra did what she had tried to do before, and made a break for the door. This time, not even the loudest screaming of her name could get her to come back and explain herself, and she was running down the hallway as fast as she could before the door even closed after her.

The second person to knock at the door came a few minutes later, and in search of who had come before her. “'ey, you seen Sierra around here?” Izzy asked once the door was opened for her and she poked her head in. “I was gonna sneak her in the back door to the party, since I know how bummed out she is that she can't have fun with us.”

“She was in here, then she told me that this party was a thing, and then she left. Weirdo. Am I not supposed to know it's a thing, or was she just being over-dramatic?” The answer she got was a cackle, followed with the message that she'd only find out the truth if she let Izzy in, and so the redhead on a mission came into the room, laughing as she did. “Okay, spill what I want to know and get out. I don't think I want you around for very long.”

“Fair enough, I've got somewhere I need to be in ten anyway, and I've got to make the best entrance possible when I get there. The confetti guns should be by the door...oh! Right! Telling you about the party needs to happen.” Unlike Sierra, she didn't bother to move from right beside the door once it was closed, ready to bolt at any given moment. “It's all top secret and stuff. Invited people only. And I can think of three people not on that invite list, and you're one of them.”

“And Sierra's one too. Yeah, got that much already.” Heather rolled her eyes as she sank back down into her chair, just trying to make herself comfortable. “What's the deal with that?”

Izzy grinned before cackling again. “They, and by they I mean Cody and Gwen, decided it would be best if you weren't invited because you'd be left out of all the fun. Besides, no one really wanted to be stuck listening to you complain all night.” Her grin faded, not because of the glare that was aimed at her, but rather at what needed to be explained next. “As for Sierra not being allowed...I'm not allowed to talk about that. Swore that I wouldn't make the same mistake twice, ratting her out on her betrayal of her friends to Alejandro again.”

The room became absolutely silent, to the point that the only noise heard was the cars way down out on the street. “Her betrayal to _who_?”

“Uh, did I say someone? I don't think I did.” Awkward laughter followed, but unlike who had stood in her spot earlier, she didn't try to leave. “And if I did, it definitely wasn't anyone you'd be interested in, especially not the guy that you're totally in love with.”

“Izzy, you tell me what is going on right now, or I'm following you to that party and getting answers from someone I know would tell me everything.” The glare intensified, and there was more awkward laughter, followed with some nervous neck scratching coming from the woman against the door. “What's it going to be?”

“It's not my place to tell you this stuff, since I really only know what Sierra told me and what I saw the other night. But man, I have never seen Cody so mad that he gets violent like that, and he got super violent! Heh, pretty boy didn't know what he was messing with, being cornered by a twig with a cue!” As she had already ruined the second secret that Heather wasn't supposed to ever find out about, Izzy figured that it was time to embellish the truth and make it sound more interesting than it actually had been: “It was after the first night of play, and out of the shadows comes this hunky guy wielding a blade, looking for you! But you weren't there, and so he went after Sierra, because, guess what? She had told him that you were going to be there!”

Rather than getting angry about it right away, a moment of realization and peace of a sort came before the anger. “That would explain how he knew I was here, now wouldn't it?” she asked, not expecting any answer, but when Izzy gave her a cheerful yes in response, that was when the anger took over. “I can't believe I let that woman into this room and she's the one who let him know that I'm out here! That's like, ugh! So wrong of her!”

“Don't get too mad at me, ha, I'm just the messenger. And I've got to go.” Izzy gripped the door handle, but let it go after a second of thought. “By the way, totally joking about that blade. He just came out callin' for you, but he really did attack Sierra. Sorta. More like, grabbed her and she attacked him.”

“Stop talking about him to me!” It was a loud scream, one that made Izzy shrink back against the door and regret not leaving when she had said she would, choosing to have unleashed this wrath instead. “I already have to deal with knowing that it's Sierra who's made it so everyone wants me to stay in here, that it's her fault that no one will let me do anything, and the last, the literal last, thing I want to hear is _any_ thing about that damn man!”

“Yeesh, don't get so worked up. I really am just the messenger.” This time, there wasn't any second thoughts that stopped her from opening the door.

However, getting her name called at her caused her to slam it shut without so much as taking a step to the hall. “You aren't getting out of this so easily, Izzy,” Heather said with the anger still very apparent in her voice, “and you are going to tell me more about what that untrustworthy bitch did, but you are not going to even mention a certain someone else, got it?”

“Got it, but there's not much more to say. Well, except that she told me that she's been helping that certain someone try to win your heart for a while. But that's neither here nor there, is it?” She laughed to herself, hoping that would put an end to the discussion, but the still-there glare being shot in her direction said otherwise. “Okay, fine, it's kinda important. But not super important if I'm just talking Sierra.”

“How is it not important if you're just talking about her? She did it, didn't she?”

“Yeah, but...” Izzy sighed, scratching at her arm nervously. “This is going a lot like an interrogation with the RCMP. Last time I was in that situation, I started talking squirrel. Please don't make me start talking squirrel to get out of this.”

“Are you saying you have a problem with ratting someone out who wronged me?” Shaking her head in disappointment, Heather finally dropped the glare that had been almost pinning Izzy to the wall, and that was when she attempted to make her second escape from the room. Much like the first time, it was having her name called that brought her back, although with protests that she wasn't going to be interrogated and play by silly rules. “I'm not going to ask anything else about that. Obviously the only way I'm going to get answers is if I talk to Sierra herself about it, so let's consider that done. But I do have a different question for you.”

Izzy actually stepped away from the door to show that she was okay with being asked something else. “A different question? For me? Okay, just one, but then I've really got to go before the confetti cannon guys decide to go elsewhere.”

“Uh, that sounds terrible, I think. Just answer this question and you can go handle all that. You literally just mentioned having to deal with the law, so how are you here? Wouldn't they, I don't know, want to keep a loon like you in Canada?” It was a serious question, but Izzy couldn't help but double over in laughter as she pondered how to answer it. “I don't see how that's funny.”

“Do you think I'm stupid enough to let them know I'm leaving? Oh man, you're hilarious if you think they're looking for me with my real name attached. Someone doesn't hide from the law on television, they just play games with them there. Same logic applies to leaving the country!” She stepped back to the door and opened it, waving her farewell but parting with one last comment: “I can tell you that no one here knows who I really am, and my name doesn't have an I, a Z, or a Y anywhere to be found!”

The cackle that was so standard of Izzy's presence could be heard as she walked down the hall to take care of her grand entrance into the party, and once it was gone was when Heather figured that the rest of her night would be spent in relative silence, with no one else to come disturb her. That would have been for the best at that point, because she had many new developments to think about, most importantly the fact that it was Sierra who had sent the one person she never wanted to deal with again right to where she was.

As she leaned back into her chair a bit more, she laughed to herself about how, as hard as she was sure Sierra had tried, he hadn't found her yet, and had probably made the trip for nothing. But when there was a third person knocking at the door, she was made to regret ever thinking such a thing, for when she opened the door to see who it was and found a pair of green eyes (one bruised and battered) looking in at her.

She slammed the door closed in his face and screamed.

* * *

“You know, I feel really bad about not inviting everyone. Sure we had reasons for why, but it just feels wrong to not have the entire group here celebrating,” Cody said with a sigh, his head in his hands as he rested his elbows on what little table space there was in front of him. “This should be fun for everyone, not just fun for me.”

Gwen laughed, nudging him with her foot. “The way you've been sitting here moping, I think it's been more fun for everyone who's embraced that we're in a club than it has been for either of us. In fact, I'm sure the two who aren't here are having more fun than us, so cheer up. Your birthday only comes once a year.”

“Sierra's the only one who ever cares it's my birthday, and we didn't invite her to celebrate it with us.” He sighed again, not even bothering to look anywhere than the dark table. “She's probably crying her eyes out, knowing her, because I didn't want to let her come. What she did was wrong, but was it worth this?”

“Are you really asking that? Yes what she did was worth not being invited to a party! She went behind all of our backs and was trying to hurt someone who we both want to protect. Which, before you even ask if it was okay for us to not invite Heather, it's for the best if she's not here. At least if she's in her room we know she's safe.” A loud scream, followed by laughter, caught Gwen's attention, and she got up from the stool she had been sitting on. “I'll be right back. I think Izzy's using another one of those cannons.”

As she headed towards the sound of the laughter, which had been joined by thunderous explosions that were shooting confetti into the air, Gwen had to ask herself if leaving probably the only person in the entire club that wasn't too into the party scene was a good idea. She gave a firm no to her mental questioning when she was approached by a guy who she had already told off once on this trip, and he looked like he had serious business with her. “Hey, Gwen, I was wondering if—“

“I don't have time to deal with you right now, Trent, sorry,” was her reply, and she kept on walking as if he wasn't even there. But he was not going to let her slip away so easily, so he started following her to her destination, where the shower of confetti was falling. Each word he tried to say to her was shushed, yet he was persistent. That was, until she stopped and he ran straight into her. “Why are you following me?” she snappishly asked, turning to look at him. “I didn't ask for this.”

“I just wanted to talk to you, that's all. Is there a problem with that?” He stepped back from her a bit, brushing himself off as if she was dirty and the contact had messed him up in some way. “I figured that this would be a good time.”

She took a deep breath, noting how desperate he seemed. “No, it's not a good time. I'm aware that you got invited to this thing, but you weren't invited here for me, and if you want to talk to anyone, maybe you should talk to the birthday guy, not me.” Her point was stated clearly enough, in her opinion, yet he remained standing there, eyes eager and ready to talk about something or other with her.

“But I don't want to talk to Cody, he's being a huge mood killer and I want to talk to someone fun. Someone interesting. Someone like you.” Trent began to step closer to Gwen and she prepared to have to push him away with force—but a skillfully shot blast from the confetti cannon knocked him out of the way and onto the ground in a flurry of colored papers.

“Whoa, I hit him!” Izzy dropped the cannon and pumped both fists into the air, screaming as she did. “I am the best shot ever!”

“You might have killed him. Or hurt Gwen. And I don't know if I can celebrate this if you hurt Gwen.” Leshawna had a look of concern on her face, but when Gwen gave two thumbs up in their direction, she smiled. “Never mind. She's good, continue on.”

“Woohoo!” On top of her fists being pumped, Izzy started dancing around. “I really am the best shot ever! I saved her from her worst enemy: a gross guy. I deserve a medal or something for that! Maybe more confetti too, I think I used the last of it to take him down. But still! I took him down!”

“I thought the rule was no aiming it at people,” Gwen asked, leaving the paper-covered follower on the ground behind her. “Or maybe we aren't going to consider someone who can't take no for an answer a person.”

As Izzy kept celebrating her shot, Leshawna wrapped an arm around Gwen's shoulders and hugged her friend tight into her side. “Girl, I don't think he deserves the light of day right now. That boy tried to follow you around for a long while, ever since you got here. It's about time that Izzy here got the chance to take him down and spare you the trouble of dealin' with him.”

“You're amazing, letting her do that. Thanks for being a good friend.” Gwen returned the hug and watched as Izzy nearly slipped on a piece of confetti that had landed under her foot, causing her to fall into the two women in the hug. “Hey! Izzy!”

“Whoops, sorry, didn't realize that was going to happen. Normally nothing can take me off my feet that I don't know is going to take me off of them!” She laughed like the loon she was, and while Gwen had been angered for a moment because of the collision, she and Leshawna both couldn't help but laugh as well.

As it turned out, Gwen didn't go right back to Cody like she said she would. Hanging out with the other women was more fun than sitting and watching him mope ever could have been, and while she did feel guilty that she had lied, it wasn't like she had intended on lying; in fact, when she had gotten up, she hadn't realized that Leshawna was hanging around Izzy to begin with. The three of them spent the time talking, laughing, occasionally shooting off the cannon at anyone who approached them, and discussing events that had happened outside of the party. One event they kept going back to was the scene from nights before, that had happened in the hallway outside of the event venue.

“Yeah, I can't believe that he was actually here all along. I mean, that's a bit low, even for him. And to be searching for someone who doesn't want anything to do with him...thanks to Sierra, no less. It's a horrible situation and I'm glad it can't get any worse than it already is.” Gwen shook her head, just thinking about what else could possibly happen. “Cody feels bad that he didn't let Sierra come to this, but she doesn't deserve it after what she did. Am I right?”

“Oh hell yeah you are. She had too loose of lips and no reason to be doing something like that, even if it was hurtin' Heather. I'm not sayin' I like her or anything, but that poor girl has been through too much at his hands to deserve that.” Nodding to punctuate her point, Leshawna looked to Izzy to see what she would say in response. “How do you feel about all this nonsense?”

Izzy's answer was to shrug, before laughing and throwing a handful of confetti paper into the air to make it rain colors. “Why do we have to keep talking about this? I mean, seriously, it's so over. We're supposed to be partying, guys! Not talking about someone who isn't here and the deranged guy who wants her back for some reason. He didn't even come looking for her in an interesting way. No knives, no guns, none of that! When I told her the real story, I had to at least include a blade. Made it sound more, hm, fun! Yeah, more fun!”

“Wait a second, did you just say you _told_ her the story? Did you remember to leave out the part that it was Sierra's fault, or...?”

Knowing that what she was about to admit to would disappoint Gwen more than anything else in the world could at that moment, Izzy knew that she needed to skirt around the issue the best she could. Or, she could just come out and say it, which is what she ended up doing. “I told her the story. An embellished version, but the story. I don't think she's planning on killing Sierra for it, so that's what matters, right?” When all she got was a blank stare from Gwen and a muttered phrase she couldn't make out from Leshawna, she realized that it wasn't what mattered. “I promise she's not mad. Now can we please stop talking about this and get back to having fun?”

“No way, missy. The whole reason she wasn't supposed to know who led him here was so that she wouldn't want revenge for it. If we get back to having fun, I'll be worried that she's out of her room and trying to hunt down Sierra and hurt her for this.” The blank look was still on Gwen's face and she looked around the dimly-lit club, checking the surroundings to see who was paying attention. “I'm going to go check on her. If I'm not back in twenty, assume she's gone and that you need to help me find her. Got it?”

“You got it girlfriend.” Leshawna gave a small smile at Gwen before they parted ways, Gwen to tell Cody that she had to leave for a bit but that she would be back, and Leshawna to remain standing there with a somewhat guilty-feeling Izzy who regretted ever going to knock on that hotel room door.

Cody's reaction to the news wasn't to insist that Gwen stayed, but rather that he went with. “I'm not being much fun around here, and maybe leaving for a bit will help me realize that what we did was for the best,” he said as he got up from his stool. “Besides, wherever you're going, you really shouldn't go alone.”

“Thanks for the concern, but this isn't something I want you involved in, especially on your birthday.” Gwen pushed him back into his sitting position, but no sooner did her hands leave his shoulders did he get back up again. “Come on, Cody, I'm being serious. Last thing you need is to go with me and have something else happen.”

After she attempted to get him to sit again and he resisted once more, she gave up on trying and agreed to let him come with. As they were leaving the club with a promise to the doorman that they would return very soon, Cody commented, “What's the worst that could happen, though? It's not like we're going to get wherever we're going and find someone we don't want to see.”

“Yeah, but we could easily not find someone we do want to see. Now let's get over to the hotel and make sure Izzy didn't spark an attempted murder.”

* * *

So maybe he had been betrayed by the one person on the inside who had been helping him the entire time. That would have been a problem, had Sierra not given out all the information about the trip to Alejandro way before she had decided that she wasn't going to hurt her friends by helping him anymore. Thanks to that, he had everything he needed to make a second attempt at winning back the woman he wanted so dearly, and what better time was there to make such an attempt than a night where he assumed she would be alone?

Knowing that of all the nights of the trip, this was the one where there was the smallest chance of anyone keeping guard in her hotel room for him was a very big deal. Now, while remembering that it was a birthday—not necessarily whose birthday—was a big deal, but remembering that Sierra had said multiple times that they were going to do something for that birthday that would most likely leave Heather in her room for safety reasons was the bigger and more important thing.

He should have anticipated that she wouldn't let him in when he knocked at the door, but he was still hurt when the heavy door was slammed in his face without him being able to so much as get out a single word. The scream she let out as she rejected him was icing on the cake, and he knew that it meant she wanted nothing to do with him. But he wasn't going to give up that easily, and so he knocked again, knowing there would be no response.

Except, surprisingly enough, there was one. It wasn't the door opening and being let in, but rather a message yelled through the door: “Leave me alone or I'll get you arrested! I'm not scared to do it either, so just go before it gets ugly!”

“I do not want trouble,” he said in response, his face mere inches from the door to make sure he could be heard. “I just want to speak with you and catch up. Please open up so we can talk.”

“No!” With how loud her voice was, it was clear that she was just on the other side of the door, a sign that with some convincing, she could be convinced to do what he wanted. “You can't follow me somewhere and expect me to do what you want!”

“It worked for me before, and I know it will work again this time. Remember when we were here together? That was fun and we were so, so in love back then. Why do we have to keep this distance between us now?” He put his hand on the door's handle, turning it in hopes that the door wasn't latched; as it was locked tightly, it only turned slightly. “Will you please open this door, _mi amor_ , and let me in?”

“Don't fucking call me that.” The way she said those words was not with anger, but instead with some sort of pain, as it sounded as if she was trying not to cry as she spoke. “I'm nothing to you, just like you're nothing to me. Now go before you pay for this.”

“Are you crying?” he asked, trying to open the door again. “I can make things better, if you are. Just let me in and everything will be okay.”

He could hear her touching the handle on the inside and rattling it, not turning it quite enough for him to be able to push the door open. “I've been just fine without you since I left. Why do you think I need you now?”

“While I am sure you are strong enough to be on your own, you have something important that I cannot let you have without me.” There he sighed, trying the handle once more to no avail. “As my fiancée you shou—“

She jerked the door open, pulling him forward and nearly into her, their eyes locking in a gaze once he stopped from falling on her. “Say that again and I will remind you of the night where I told you I am _not_ your fiancée. I dare you.”

“That was just in a fit of anger, and I am sure you do not still feel that way.” Aware that he was close to her, close enough to touch her and hold her and be with the one he loved again, Alejandro had to make sure that he didn't go and mess things up too badly right away. That meant that he had to gain her trust back before he made a move, and to do that he had to break away from staring into her eyes, which were teary yet angry. “Now, shall we talk?”

“Go fuck yourself.” Her eyes narrowed and she tried to push him out into the hall to lock him out once more, but he grabbed her wrists and stopped her. “Hey! Let go of me and leave!”

“I will let go if you do not force me to leave quite yet. There is much that needs to happen here before I go.” He loosened his grip on her, but still held both wrists just tightly enough that she couldn't pull away. “I promise you that I am not going to hurt you.”

She was trying to get out of his grasp but was failing, as he knew she would, so instead of attempting any longer she just gave up. “Okay, fine, you know what? Stay. I don't care. Just keep to that promise and don't hurt me or the baby, you hear me?”

The mere mention of the child made him forget whatever purpose he had upon coming to the room, and he let go of both of her wrists in his stunned moment. “I would never—that child is—why would you think that I would do such a thing? You are incorrect if you ever thought I could bring myself to hurt you or her.”

“How the fuck do you know that...” Heather's voice trailed off before she groaned and shook her head. “Let me guess, that little rat Sierra told you?” When he said that yes, in fact, she had, there was another groan. “And I bet she told you exactly where I was going to be tonight, didn't she? Can't trust that bitch with anything.”

“To be fair, she told me where your room was before she decided that her friends were worth more than helping me get you back was. Now shall we discuss this somewhere that isn't a doorway?” This was the first time that he had looked anywhere but her face, and his eyes had gravitated to the most prominent part of her body that he hadn't ever noticed, or gotten the chance to see before: the large and swollen stomach that was currently home to their child. “I assume you do not want to be standing much longer while supporting that.”

She frowned, but did not argue against him and slowly made her way back to her chair, propping her feet right back up where they had been. “You're right, I don't want to be standing. Glad to know you're at least a bit observant.”

“I have always been observant.” As he closed the door and took a seat right next to where she was resting her feet, he saw that she had let her frown deepen. “What is the matter now? Is there a problem with me sitting here, or with something else?”

With sarcasm in her voice, she had a response that he should have expected. “Oh, I've got many problems with this situation. The fact that you're here. The fact that I never asked for you to be here, never wanted you to come here, never wanted to deal with your smug-ass face again in my life. And, most importantly, the fact that you haven't so much as apologized for being the reason I look like this!” With one hand she gave him a rude gesture, but with the other she motioned to her body, which he couldn't help but look at. After all, the last time he had looked at more than her face, she had been model-thin and arguably the most attractive person he had ever seen in his life, but now she was different, and he knew he was staring.

“I do not see any problems with how you look, if you want me to be honest. Yes it is something that is far from your usual, but I find it charming. It is hard to say anything negative about your appearance when its changes are caused by something so wonderful, or, that is, it _would_ be wonderful if the circumstances were different.” Judging by the way she rolled her eyes at what he said, she had to have known what was coming, but once Alejandro got started on the topic he was about to hit, he knew he was not going to be able to stop the words from coming out. “While it is nice to know that you are carrying my child within you, the fact still remains that we are unmarried and that means that when she is born, she will still be looked down upon by everyone in my family. I really do not want that for her, do you?”

“I don't care what the fuck your family thinks about her, because they're not going to have anything to do with her.” The obscene gesture had been dropped, and the frown had faded, but it was still very clear that Heather was incredibly displeased with the situation that was unfolding. “I can't believe you would go so long without even trying to talk to me, then come in while I'm out of the country with friends and try to fix things! If I wanted to be with you, which did I ever actually want to be with you? I would have tried to get back with you months ago!”

“I understand that you are still angry at me for the last time I brought this up, but I cannot help but try to make amends with you. Do you know how hard it is to only know about things through a source like Sierra? A source I no longer have access to, by the way. Where will I hear the stories about you now, if not from you?” He meant to continue on somehow, but when he gave a pleading and empathetic look in Heather's direction, he saw she wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying. “Excuse me, but is something the matter?”

“Ugh, yeah, but it's not like you actually care.” As she spoke, she was grimacing, as if she was in pain. “Just get out of here and leave me alone, okay?”

Her voice was not carrying her typical rude tone, which worried Alejandro to the point of actually getting up from where he had sat and crouching down in front of her instead. “I do not think you really want to be alone right now, judging by how you sound. Now let me ask again, what is the matter, and can I be of any help?”

“Get away from me, you jerk,” she halfheartedly said, before sighing. “You're going to be persistent, aren't you? What will it take for you to go?”

“It will take knowing that you are fine, even though I have no intentions of leaving this room until things are settled between us.” She rolled her eyes, but grabbed his hand and placed it on part of her stomach. Underneath his palm, little but forceful movements could be felt, and just feeling one of them brought a smile to his face. “Oh, is this what the problem is?”

“You have no idea how painful it is, okay? It's like she's fucking playing soccer in there sometimes, and it hurts and I'm so tired of it. But really, it's not like you care.” She pushed his hand away but he put it right back in the same spot, hoping to feel more of the kicks. “I didn't say you could keep touching me, asshole. Hands off now.”

While he knew it was for the best if he listened to her about something, this was an important moment in his life and there was no way he was ending it so quickly. “You do not understand, I have been imagining what this would be like for a long while, and I would like to enjoy knowing that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding her existing, she is fine and healthy.”

“I'm sure you've been told that a million times by Sierra. She's fucking obsessed with this baby, and now that I know _why_ that is, maybe I'm happy that I haven't told her certain things.”

“Such as what? I will admit that she was quite helpful in letting me know everything she knew, but I was unaware there were things you hadn't told her.” Not feeling any more movement that gave him a reason to have his hand where it was, Alejandro pulled his hand away and put it on his chin, stroking it in thought. “But, let me guess, you are going to refrain from telling me these things now, correct?”

“Duh. I don't like you, so why the fuck would I tell you anything that I wouldn't tell someone I thought was my friend?” She looked at him for a good minute, before laughing, much to his confusion. “Okay, maybe I should tell you these things, but I don't have to.”

“You are correct, you do not have to, but let me remind you that these things are about someone that we both had a hand in making, even though it was at your insistence that we partook in what caused her to exist in the first place.” Even with the battered half of his face, he was able to give her a serious look strong enough to make her rethink her position on the matter, made evident by the exasperated sigh she gave. “So, will you tell me?”

She ended up shaking her head in response. “No, I can't tell you. See, the thing is, I don't want you to know. I don't want you to care. I'm going to raise her right, like the little Spanish princess she's going to be, but she's not going to know why that's what she is. She's not going to know you.”

“Is that because of the influence of your friends, or your own decision? I am aware that I may or may not have said and done some things to make you want to distance yourself from me, but I swear to you, I love you and her both.” Without really thinking about what he was doing, he reached into his pocket and pulled that old gaudy ring out from it. “Please take your engagement ring back and let us return to our planning and our romance and the life we had before things got out of hand. I cannot let things go on any longer without some changes.”

She leaned forward as far as she could, glaring at him as she did. “I am not taking that damn piece of jewelry back from you, not as long as I live. You don't deserve me, and you don't deserve anything except being alone.” Before he got the chance to ask any questions for clarification, she gave him the one answer he was most likely looking for: “That means you won't be getting anywhere close to _my_ little princess, you fucker. This is how I'm ending this, uh, whatever it is between us. Now get out before I really do call someone.”

“I do not understand why you are so insistent on not allowing me to be around someone that I am partially responsible for creating,” he said as he stood up, hoping that by making an attempt to do what she demanded he would spark a change of heart in her. “I will even go through with what you had asked for back before we split for the second time. We can save the grand ceremony for after you have gone back to normal, but we really need to wed before we have a bastard child on our hands...”

“Get out!” Both of her hands pointed to the door and, feeling the hostility she was throwing at him, he had to follow through with her wishes. There wasn't even a chance for him to say anything else, as she started to scream at him to leave.

When he found himself on the other side of a door that would remain locked for him, he couldn't help but sigh deeply. That was the woman who held his heart and would soon hold his child, and he wasn't able to get even slightly close to her. There wasn't much point to try and get back inside, so he made his way down the hall to return to the hotel where he was staying—and in the lobby, amidst the people going in and out, he passed right by two people rushing upstairs to check on their friend.

* * *

“What do you mean, you give up?” The morning phone calls were always the worst, but when Courtney was using her shrill voice to try and change someone's mind, things were even more terrible. “We have done so much planning for your stupid dream wedding that you can't just give up without more fighting!”

“Trust me, it is better if I stop trying and just accept the fact that Heather wants nothing more to do with me. It was fun while it lasted, but our paths were never meant to join as one.” He had spent the entire night thinking about what had gone wrong, and while he hadn't reached any conclusions, he had realized that while she was the world to him, he wasn't much of anything to her. “I guess this is the end of our alliance on the matter.”

A noise made out of frustration came from Courtney's side of the call, and she could be heard banging on something. “This isn't the end! There is no end until there is a suitable ending! And since she's going to screw you over and make you the laughingstock of your family, how about we ruin her life?”

“I would assume that being in her situation has already ruined her life, so there is no need.”

“Oh, but you don't understand. I can find a way to get her killed. A hit man? Maybe a staged wreck? I know the law, I know how to make it look like a total accident while we both really know what's to blame. Wouldn't you like to know the whore who ruined you is buried deep in the ground?” Replacing the frustrated noises was a laugh that would find itself at home coming from someone who was deranged. “Just say the word and I will make it happen.”

“We are not killing her, no matter what. Things may not have worked out between us, but that does not mean she must die for it.” He shook his head, because he hated whenever Courtney started making those suggestions, as they were completely uncalled for. “Now is this all for this conversation, or do you have anything else to add?”

There was a pause of silence, before Courtney made one last comment that earned the rude hang-up she got. “Yeah, I've got something else. Now that you've given up on getting back with that bitch, how about you appease those high standards of yours and get with someone more classy?” Of course she was referring to herself, much like she always was, and when the call went dead in her ear because of it, it was almost cause for her to want to add him to her list of people to kill.

Except she never could do such a thing to someone she so badly wanted to get with, who also happened to have a bit of a bill that needed to be paid to her for her services. What good would he be to her if he was dead?

* * *

The tournament overall lasted for a week, and for being someone who hadn't truly earned his spot in play, Cody did a fairly decent job, not winning or coming anywhere close to it, but not being one of the big losers. But finishing in the middle made it all the more interesting when, a few days after they had all gotten home from the trip, he got a call that he had somehow made it into the next big tournament.

That meant another trip, another week of playing pool, and another chance to become the champion he had always wanted to be. There was just one tiny problem, which he made sure to announce to all of the members of his group of friends the next time he saw them: he was only given the chance to bring two people with him for his cheering section, unlike the unrestricted amount he had for Vegas. And he had two prime choices for the taking, as Sierra was, somehow, still a given for going, even after what she had done and caused.

When he made the announcement, there wasn't the fight over who was going to go that he had expected. Rather, it was a calm Gwen making a comment that would cause more of a fight than anything else: “I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm not going, and you're not taking Heather with you either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact about this chapter! I actually went in and added more to the scene between Heather and Alejandro after I had originally finished writing this chapter, because when I was writing this the first time, it was hard to write him as anything but someone I should feel no sympathy for. But after what I added, there's a bit of something there that makes you just want to hug him, isn't there? Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this thus far, and that you'll stick around for the last two chapters!


	9. A Nesting Mentality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, there's love and tenderness from someone who, for the most part, thus far, has been a heartless and controlling monster; betrayal, coming from the most unexpected of people; and, most importantly, rekindling of love, but maybe not between who it should logically be.

Everyone in the room fell silent after Gwen spoke, not really sure what to say in response to her giving an absolute no as an answer for not just herself but for someone else too. Sierra tried not to look at anyone, Cody looked between everyone hoping that they'd speak first, and Heather, her mouth wide open in shock, looked solely at Gwen. “What? I have my reasoning behind what I said, and I'm sure you'll all understand once I say it.” Gwen gave a forced smile, hoping that the promise of an explanation would calm everyone down.

“I'd hope you'd explain it, because I really would like to know why you don't want me going.” Her mouth closed a little bit, but it was apparent that her jaw was still hanging from the surprise of the statement. “You aren't my mother, so even still, you don't get to make decisions for me.”

“Yes, but don't you remember the scene from the airport trying to get home?” No sooner had Gwen said those words did the two people present that she wasn't talking to both start laughing, the memories of what had gone down at the airport still fresh in their minds. “Hush, you two. The fact that I'm even having to bring that up again should be reason enough for why she can't go.”

Between chuckles, because of which he was covering his mouth, Cody said, “I don't think that's a good reason. That guy just had it out for her.”

“I don't think he had it out for her. He had a logical reason for why he didn't want to let her on the plane, and he really didn't have to go against his reason to let her.” The laughter continued in force, the two still remembering what had happened that she was trying her hardest to skirt around. “Can you two please take this seriously for a moment? It would have been no laughing matter if that guy had let her on the plane and something had happened, and yet here you are, wanting to take her along with you on yet another plane ride!”

“To be fair, no one ever mentioned that there were planes involved this time. For all you know, this one's gonna be somewhere nearby.” Heather's cheeks were burning red with the embarrassment of the fact that there were people sitting right next to her laughing about something that had happened to her that wasn't slightly funny, and all she wanted at that moment was to be able to make a point that would make them forget what had happened. “So that would eliminate the completely stupid necessity of me having to get on a plane, wouldn't it?”

“While it would, I'm pretty sure that there wouldn't be a limit to how many people got to come along if it was going to be somewhere near here. But since there is that limit, I can safely say that it's going to be too much of a hassle for me to go, having to probably miss teaching a class or two at the rec center. And that means that you're not going either, because we all heard what that guard at the gate said, and do you really want me to repeat it?” The tone Gwen used meant business, and the eyeroll she got in response gave her the right to say what she had been trying her hardest not to actually bring up again: “Remember, that guard didn't think you were going to fit in the seats in the plane. And when you demanded that you get a free first class seat for that, because you were offended by what he said, he almost didn't give you it until you had me step in and explain everything to him.”

“You make it sound like I wasn't capable of explaining things...”

That was when Gwen smirked, knowing that she was about to end the discussion in the way she wanted it to end. “You _weren't_. You were so mad that you were just yelling and crying and you needed someone with the sense to be levelheaded in the situation to take care of things. Even still, he got on me for letting someone that looks as close to their due date as you do on a plane. And now I know that you're not supposed to do that, and you should know that too. All of you should.”

Based on the continuing laughter and the silence coming from Heather, she figured that was all there was going to be on the subject. But once Cody gained his composure enough to speak, it all started over again. “Come on, it'll be fine if she comes along with us. I mean, if you're not going to come, Gwen, then she has to. Sure it's going to be a couple long flights out to Hawaii and back, but still! One of you has to come!”

“Oh, yeah, I'm definitely not going. I can't explain that I'll be going to Hawaii for a week and expect to still have that teaching job. They'll find someone else with art knowledge for the position if I go.” Her logic wasn't going to be successfully argued with, something Cody realized when he attempted to come up with a reason and couldn't. “Good, now you get me. Besides, if I went, who would be around to watch our dear friend here?”

“Who said I would need watching?” Heather snapped, angered that such a thing would even be suggested. “You really are starting to act like my mother, and there's a reason I haven't talked to her in a very long time, that reason being that she felt the need to control me!”

“I'm sorry, but I really don't think you'd last a day without me around.” In response to the shocked gasp that escaped Heather's mouth, Gwen had to explain herself. “First of all, you wouldn't be able to get yourself anywhere, because I'm not leaving you with access to my car and you've reminded me a million times that you don't have a car anymore because you sold yours when you hooked up with the guy that put you in this situation. Secondly, all you do anymore is complain about everything, and that's saying something because you used to complain a lot, but now it's every other word out of your mouth.”

“Not true! I haven't complained since those two got here earlier, which has been a lot harder than you'd think. I don't like being in the same room as someone who was telling that asshole everything about me.” Frowning in Sierra's direction, Heather hadn't quite noticed that in her attempt to prove Gwen's point wrong, she had done the thing she was saying she hadn't. So when Gwen laughed and said that she didn't have to explain anymore, she was confused. “What do you mean? You aren't making any sense!”

“You just complained right there. I rest my case. I'm not going for my reasons, and you're not going either. Deal with it.”

“I'll volunteer to hang around with her while we're there!” Sierra chimed in, hoping that she wouldn't be glared at for so much as speaking. She was, but not from the person she expected, and she was cheerful enough to have the desire to counter Gwen's glaring. “Oh come on, you act like getting her on the plane would be hard. I could do it easy, and then she'll have me as company while you stay here and be lame and stuff.”

Sticking a finger into the air to make a point, Gwen rolled her eyes. “Reason one why you're wrong, she hates you.” Another finger went up. “Reason two, if we could barely get her home from Vegas, how do you expect to convince a trained security guard that she's safe for flying? Which leads me to reason three. Cody, you never said when this was going to be. Mind filling us in on that fact before I continue?”

“Wait, I hadn't said that already? I knew Sierra knew because she was there when I was told, but I didn't say it here?” When he was given headshakes all around, he realized that he had only mentioned why and where the trip was, not when it was going to be. “Right, sorry, that's kinda crucial information, isn't it? I think they said it's like six weeks from now or something. Not too far away at all.”

“Oh, of course it's not. In fact, it's just close enough that you're completely insane for thinking that you're going to manage to get her not only out of this house, but onto a plane and out of the country.” Gwen put a third finger up. “Because reason three, there's no denying that there isn't a slightly important thing that should be happening about that same time.”

“Okay, maybe that is true, but come on. Can't we give her one last trip before she's stuck toting a kid around with her wherever she goes?” Cody sounded desperate as he asked, making it clear that he didn't have the full severity of the situation in his mind, and all he was focusing on was that he wanted one of his friends to be there for him. “It'll be fine, I'm sure.”

“You're _sure_ it'll be fine? Because I don't think you understand what could happen. Fuck, I don't understand what could happen, and that's why I don't want you taking her with you!”

A dramatic sigh stopped the argument in its tracks. “I really don't appreciate that you two are talking like I'm not sitting right here. I can make my own decisions on this matter, and if I feel like I want to go with them, there's nothing stopping me.”

“I'm pretty sure there's something stopping you, and that something is going to try to come out of your body when it damn well wants to, and it's not going to care if you're here with me, or if you're up on an airplane you shouldn't be on, or if you're in some resort hotel a million miles from anyone willing to be there for you!” Gwen covered her face with her hands, before moving them up to run her fingers through her hair. “I have done nothing but have your best interests in mind this entire time, since you called me crying that you walked out from that jerk you thought you were in love with. And if you're going to make the dumbest decision of your life—and yes, this would be even dumber than sleeping with that asshole at any point—then I think it's really sad that I care more about you than you do.”

It wasn't so much because of what Gwen said, but rather because of the loud and forceful tone she said it with, but she had caused Heather to sink back into her seat and her bottom lip to start to waver. “I didn't need you to yell at me to get your point across, okay?” she said, her voice making it apparent that she was about to turn on the waterworks. “It's nice that you care and all, but maybe you could have said it in a nicer way. I totally would have listened to you.”

“It wasn't just you that needed to listen. Apparently someone,” her eyes turned to Cody for a second and he got to see just how serious Gwen was about all this, “needed a little reminder that you're not exactly able to go on all the trips he wants you to anymore.”

“To be fair, I really did think that the guard in Vegas was just being mean for the sake of being mean.” Cody looked between the ladies he was with and sighed. “Looks like it'll just be me and Sierra there, and I won't complain about it. Sucks that neither of you will go, though.”

“Trust me, if there weren't so many problems with Heather going, I wouldn't have said she couldn't. I wouldn't go anyway, but...” Gwen gave a small smile, all the frustration having left her body after she had given her big explanation. “I'm sure the two of you will manage to have fun alone. Or, maybe, you could invite someone else along. You have more friends than just us two.”

“I think Izzy should come along!” Sierra happily said, hoping her suggestion would be a good one. “Everything's better when she's around. She could so fill the silence and emptiness we'll have without either of these two. Although I do like the idea of spending all that time alone with you, my dear Codykins.”

Everyone was silenced by the loud kissing noises Sierra made in Cody's direction, as it was clear that she still hadn't fully given up on him, even after everything. “Uh, maybe we will invite Izzy along, if it means I can get time away from you,” he said, moving ever-so-slightly away from where she sat. “Even though I know that giving you time alone doesn't end well for others.”

“Oh come on, I'm so totally done with helping people we don't like. Last time I even talked to him was before Vegas, promise!” There was no need for Sierra to say who she was talking about, because that betrayal was still fresh in everyone's minds and while they were trying to move past it, the truth remained that she had done it. “Besides, he wouldn't follow us there if Heather's not there. We all know it's her he wants.”

* * *

In all of the time that Courtney had been on this job, there had never once been a missed meeting or one that had to be held at a different location. But after three weeks of no responses to texts or calls, no shows at meetings, and nothing in the way of mail, she had come to the conclusion that maybe it was time for her to make her first-ever house call. The drive was long, and while making it she gained an appreciation for the dedication it took to make the trip once a week, and when she arrived in front of an unassuming house in a picturesque neighborhood, she had no regrets coming all that way for the sake of keeping her client and her internship.

She made herself look as professional as possible as she stood at the front step, fist pounding on the door to alert him to her presence. “Come on, open up, I don't have time to waste waiting for you any longer,” she grumbled to herself, making her knocks more forceful. “If you don't come out soon, I'm going to let my boss hear that you walked out on our contract and you will pay...”

The door slowly opened, and she pulled her arm back to her side, making sure not to hit who was going to let her in. “Courtney? What are you doing here? I thought you said you would not use knowing my address against me if I stopped showing up for some reason.”

“I lied. You had to give me some warning for why you weren't going to be there. Now let me in, I drove the whole way out here and now we're going to have a proper meeting, since you've skipped out on the last three.” She pushed the door open, causing Alejandro to step from behind it and avoid being smacked with it, and she made her way into the house. “There we go, now we can get things done!” she said, turning to look at him, but when she saw what she was going to be dealing with, the thought that they weren't going to get anything done that she wanted crossed her mind. “Uh, what's with the paint on your clothes?”

“You interrupted me while I was working, that is all. I do not have the time for you to talk about things that do not matter anymore, so if you would step back outside and leave, I would highly appreciate that.” He grabbed the door handle, after Courtney had closed the door, and reopened it. “I would have thought that you got the message that I no longer wish to work with you.”

She put a finger to her mouth as she mulled over what he said, but soon shook her head. “Sorry, didn't realize that by not showing up to scheduled meetings but still not having what you wanted, you were done with me.”

“Nothing you did was enough to fix things, and so I have decided that it is for the best that I find my own way to fix them. Without Sierra telling me everything there is to know about what my Heather is doing, it is much harder that I would have expected, but I can manage.” He motioned to the open door with the hand that wasn't holding it open. “Now leave and let me return to my decorating, please.”

“Decorating? What could you possibly be decorating with such, ugh, disgusting paint?” Her eyes were focused on the splatters in various shades of pink that covered Alejandro's clothing. “You don't seem like the kind of guy who would like those ugly colors.”

He shook his head, clearly unamused by Courtney after that comment. “It does not matter to you, so kindly leave and end this here.”

“No sir, we've got work to do, and if that means I have to work while you look like you fucked a unicorn, then so be it.” She grabbed his arm that was motioning to the door and tried to use it to pull him outside, but he wouldn't budge. “Hey, what gives? All of my documents are out in the car, so we should really go out there!”

“What part of me needing to return to my decorating did you not understand? You are just trying to torment me by keeping me away from it, and I really do not have the time for this right now.” Since he couldn't get Courtney to leave without him following, he sighed. “But it seems you are going to force me to have the time.”

She nodded, tugging at his arm a bit more, but rather than giving in, he slammed the door in front of her face and pulled his arm from her grasp. “Oh, so you're not going to cooperate, huh? Fair enough. I guess I remember enough of what we need to discuss that we can make staying in here work out.”

“No, you will not make anything work out.” He was already headed back up the stairs, leaving Courtney by the door. “You can sit somewhere and think about how rude you are being by showing up here without warning. I really do not have the time for this.”

“You're going to have to make time, because I have an internship that requires me to have time with my client, and you have been shirking away from that time!” She bounded up the stairs behind Alejandro, following him up to the upper landing of the house. “I can't keep my position if I'm not doing my job!”

“Then you should have alerted me that you would be stopping by, because I do not have time for this right now.” When she tried to rush past him to stop his progress, he stopped her instead by grabbing her shoulders. “Please, understand what I am saying and leave me alone, while I go back to my decorating.”

It got the point across, as when he let go of her she walked over to one of the chairs at the kitchen table and dramatically sat down in it. “Okay, fine, I'll sit here and wait until you're ready for our meeting. I'm so ready to talk about my new idea for how we're going to get this wedding to happen, and you've got to hear this.”

“Oh, that is what this is about.” Judging by the way his shoulders fell and he looked upset just by her mentioning the wedding, she could tell that it was the reason Alejandro had been skipping out on their meetings. “I told you the last time we met, the plans are useless and we have no need to discuss them further. It took three weeks of pleading with you to get the point across, or so I thought. I was unaware you were so desperate for my business that you would come after three more weeks of me not showing up and push the point I told you was irrelevant.”

“I figured you were saying it wasn't worth pursuing because there weren't good enough plans for it! You and I both know that if you throw enough money around, you can sway her!”

“Courtney, I told you what transpired between us that night, where she let me in long enough to get my hopes up, then dashed them by telling me she will never be with me again. I called you and told you it was over then, but you ignored me and kept trying to get me tangled up in silly and useless plans.” He took a few steps towards the hall, leaving her sitting in the chair with nothing to do but watch him as he left. “That is why I no longer want anything to do with you, because you had two choices for me and if one was not working, you wanted to go to the other, and I cannot even imagine killing Heather, not even after everything.”

“No one said I was being serious about killing her! Sure it sounded like a good idea at times when I'd see how much she was making you suffer, but do you know how much time we would do in prison for that? I'm going to be a lawyer, I can't have a criminal record!” She slapped her legs with both hands, hoping the noise would get him to turn around. “But I saw how happy she made you, even though I have no idea why that's the case. Obviously she's a terrible person.”

He stopped moving for a second, turning his head back to look Courtney dead in the eyes. “Say one more foul word about her and I will do something you will never forgive me for. Now sit there quietly for the next few hours, and I will come back to discuss the terms of ending our business relationship.” With that, he walked down the hall and into a room, shutting the door behind him, and she was left sitting there with widened eyes. Ending their relationship? She thought back to several contracts she had made him sign, all of which clearly stated in lots of big words that he was unable to end their partnership until he got what he wanted.

So what was what he wanted then? She knew it was for her to leave him to his own matters, but she couldn't accept that fact. It had been over a year since this whole thing had started, where he would come to her looking for some way to get back with Heather, whom he had left long before under the impression that, once he became a “better man” or whatever he thought leaving was going to do for him, he would easily be able to get back with her. And their return to a romantic relationship status, which had totally been possible only because of her and Sierra helping out, had been a good one, but of course he went about things the wrong way when they got complicated, and had completely ignored her when she suggested the better way to do them.

Him doing things his own way had never once worked out for him since that damn show ended, and it was up to Courtney to remind him of that fact, she decided. Hopping up from the chair and storming down the hall, she opened the door that had been shut minutes before and the strong smell of fresh paint overcame her, something she hadn't noticed lingering in the house until that moment. “I thought I told you to remain seated,” he said, not looking from the wall he was currently covering in a layer of light pink paint. “Disturbing me is not going to get you anywhere.”

“I was—what are you doing?” Her thoughts escaped her mid-sentence for the sake of the second, more pressing thought. “This looks like you're decorating it for some child or something!”

“Hm, could it be because that is indeed what I am doing?” The tone he took was sarcastic, as he stepped back from the wall for a second to make sure everything looked fine, then continued on with his work. “I can only hope that, by passing the information that I have set up a dedicated room to this child that I have been told I will never get to see to someone who can then pass it to Heather, she will have a change of heart and come back, even if only for the use of this room.” He fell silent as he returned to his painting, and the lack of words made Courtney more curious about the contents of the room, if he thought it was going to be enough to bring someone back who had been gone for a long while.

It took coming a few steps into the room to see that the wall he was working on was the only one that hadn't been coated in some shade of pink, as the others were beautifully decorated with not only paint but with strings of little lights that, for the moment, weren't on, and pictures of flowers and animals in perfectly white frames. Nestled up against the wall furthest from the one being painted were many boxes, the labels on them indicating that inside of them were parts for what looked to be high-quality furniture pieces, and next to the boxes were several containers that were overflowing with colorful little articles of clothing.

Her mouth opened slightly in shock from seeing all that, and when she turned to look at the wall he was currently painting, it wasn't just the pink that she had first thought it was. The top half was white, while the bottom half was in the process of becoming pink, but it was the presence of wooden letters, painted the same pink as he was painting the wall, that caught her eye. “So, uh, don't mean to intrude or anything, but you do realize there's a chance she won't come crawling back to you just because of this. And I don't mean anything by that, except, well, it looks like you've sorta named a child you have nothing to do with.”

“Trust me, I am aware of that, but I am fairly certain that I know Heather well enough that I can assume that she will appreciate this name choice, regardless of if she has chosen a name on her own or not. Based on what Sierra told us countless times about the nickname of choice for _my_ child, it is not much of a stretch at all to believe that she will be taking that princess title and picking a name from it. And as we have been told, she is insistent on spotlighting the Spanish part of her background, and what better way to highlight that than to name her after the first Spanish queen?” Throughout his entire speech, he didn't turn away from his painting once. “Now please do not question any further.”

“Sorry, but I think you're making a really dumb decision by attaching yourself to a name that is going to be so far from the one that's used. Also, I'm pretty sure you spelled it wrong.” Courtney crossed her arms over her chest as she studied the letters on the wall. “If you're going for Spanish royalty, I'm pretty sure you're missing a few letters.”

That was enough to stop him from his painting, have him set the paintbrush down, and for him to step back so that he was standing next to her and look at the wall. “I do not see what you are getting at,” he said, “because that is how you spell it.”

“No it's not. I've read enough books about that whole fiasco to know that the first queen of what we know as Spain was named Isabella.” She nodded enthusiastically, hoping that her confidence would tell him that he was indeed wrong. “So you've got to change that if you're going to make sure you've got what's even close to the right name up there.”

“Trust me, I know that what is up there is the correct way to spell the name, and if you are going to insist that it is not, then I will have to ask you to leave. Which I would like you to do anyway, even if you changed your mind and realized that maybe it is best if you do not question the man raised in a Spanish household about spelling the name of royalty. I know that without a doubt, it is spelled exactly as it is presented up there: Isabel.” Just saying the name brought a smile to his face, and as Courtney watched, he brought his hands to his chin and sighed contently. “What a perfect name for what will be a perfect child, even if she is to be born from some unfortunate circumstances.”

He stayed in his dream-like state for only a moment, because she took the opportunity to break him from it quickly. “You know, I've never noticed this before, but you're really attractive when you're so excited about something, and I can't help but want to see you like this more.”

“While I am sure that I am supposed to take that as a compliment, I believe our time working together is over and you will not get the chance to see me like this again.” He shook his head to clear it from the happy thoughts that had taken over, and moved to get back to his painting—but Courtney grabbed him in a hug instead, impeding his movement. “Okay, let go of me, please. This is not the place for you to be attempting something of a romantic nature.”

“No one ever said I was going to get romantic with you, but if that's where your mind is, then maybe I shouldn't resist. If you're thinking about love between us, then I have something to suggest to you.” She tightened her hug on him a bit, not paying attention to the eyeroll or the muttered Spanish phrase that he said. “Why don't you just forget about all of this? You and I both know that this is all some weird coping mannerism you've got, and that you're never going to so much as see a picture of this baby, even if she is yours. So just forget she exists, and forget that you were ever in love with her mom so that you don't have to deal with that suffering.”

“Where are you going with this? Please do not tell me that you are really going to suggest murdering one or both of them while we are in here.”

“Come on, I'm better than that.” She wasn't strong enough to force him into moving anywhere, even as she tried to get him pushed up against one of the dry walls, so remaining in a onesided embrace in the middle of the room was how it was going to have to be. “I'm past suggesting killing as a way to win your heart. I think I'm just going to have to do that by laying down the facts.”

He rolled his eyes again, this time while she could see it. “There is no way you are going to manage to win my heart, especially when you of all people know how much of it belongs to Heather.”

“Yeah, yeah, tell me about how much you love her. But why? She's rejected you, pushed you away, and done nothing but hurt you and make you miserable! You could do so much better, by being with someone who has been there for you through all of her drama.” She batted her eyelashes, hoping that he'd fall for her charms and sweet talking. “We both know that I'm the superior option to her, anyway. I've gone through school. I have a wonderful career ahead of me. And, best of all, I don't carry that pesky burden of a bastard child with me.”

If it wasn't enough to hear her put the love of his life down, just hearing someone that wasn't him say that phrase was enough to make Alejandro lash out. “Do not touch me if you're going to act like this!” he shouted, shaking her off of him. “In fact, do not ever touch me again. Not with a handshake, not with anything! You are a disgusting woman for thinking it is acceptable to not only visit someone at their home without warning, but then try to sway them to stop pursuing who they desire just because you think you are so great!”

“You're getting really offended for someone who, when all this is over, is just going to have an empty house and a broken heart. Why don't you just get over that bitch and be with me, really? It'll work out so much better for you.” If there was anything else she was going to add to that, she was stopped by having her foot stomped on. “Hey! Don't hurt me!”

“If you do not want me to hurt you any longer, I suggest you leave before you say anything else dumb or uncalled for. In all of the places for you to attempt this, you had to pick the one that I never wanted to see ruined by someone so selfish.” He pointed to the door. “Now leave, or what happens next will be something you will never forget.”

She may not have been the most subtle when it came to trying to get with someone, but she knew when she had crossed the line, and so to the door she went. He followed, and kept telling her to move as she walked through the hall, down the stairs, and opened the front door for herself. “I expect you back at the office next week,” she said, still trying to get him to be attracted to her fluttering eyelashes. “We've got business to attend to.”

“I will be placing a call to your boss to let him know that I will be no longer coming in, and he will know the reason why. This will be the end of the business relationship between us, as well as whatever friendship I thought we had. Clearly you are unable to be friends with any male without thinking of it as a pathway to romance.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked her over, shaking his head as he did. “It is as if this is all a game to you, a game of love that, really, has never had a place for you.”

“No,” she replied, “I don't think this is a game, not at all. I think it's something more than a game. I really think that something has bloomed between us, and we've got to act on it.”

“Nothing has bloomed at all, and you are crazy for thinking that.”

“Oh, don't try to make me feel ashamed for this. I know you've got it bad for me, just like I've got it bad for you.” She puckered her lips and tried to kiss him, but he was still standing inside of the house and she was on the outside of her own doing, and so her lips were met with the cold exterior of a door. When she pulled away from the ill-fated kiss, she grumbled to herself about how all men were pigs and slunk back to her car, where she started the hours-long drive back to the office.

Alejandro, on the other hand, made good on his word and called the number for the law firm, leaving a detailed account of what had happened on Courtney's surprise visit to his house, and only hanging up when he was guaranteed that justice would be served. After that, he was able to return to his painting, thoughts of how that woman who had threatened harm on someone he loved so many times was finally going to get what was coming to her.

* * *

After returning to work in a huff, the office quickly became a mess, with every last document that had been compiled thrown all over the desk and floor. Courtney was on a rampage to rid her life of every little thing that she had done for that ungrateful, unworthy, jerk of a man she had tried to steer into a direction that would ultimately benefit her. Sure, he had come to her as a way to make the relationship he wanted so desperately to be perfect, but that relationship had been dead for months, and she was totally a better girlfriend than Heather ever could have been. Alejandro really didn't know what he was missing out on.

Just thinking about the rejection he had given her and his smug face when he turned her away made her throw a book at the wall in anger. When it hit, it made a loud echoing sound, but more noticeable was the case that fell from between its pages. Her head tilted as she wondered what it was, but when she grabbed it, she instantly regretted the decision. It was the copy of Sierra's Canada playlist, the one she had said so many times she hated.

She ended up listening to it for over an hour, not caring that her music was probably able to be heard in other offices. In fact, even if someone had tried to tell her to turn it down, she wouldn't have been able to hear them—she was ignoring everything aside from the music, until the door to her office flew open and the big man in charge came walking in. “Courtney!” he bellowed, quickly snapping her out of a lyric-induced daydream and back into a harsh reality. “What on Earth do you think you're doing in here?”

“N-nothing,” she replied, shutting the music off. “Just work, that's all.”

“That's odd, because I just got a call from your client saying he wouldn't be coming back. Said something about you coming to his house and trying to seduce him. That's not what we're about in this law firm.” He left the office for a couple of seconds, and when he came back, he had a letter in one hand and a small stack of papers in the other. “Got these things for you. Someone sent this,” he waved the letter, “from the detention center.”

Her heart felt like it skipped several beats, and her stomach dropped at those words. “Great, thanks. What's that other stuff?”

“Your termination papers.” If her heart hadn't stopped before, it definitely did then. “Can't let you intern here any longer if you're stalking and being romantically attracted to clients.” He found an empty spot on the desk that was no longer hers, set the things down, and left. Before he closed the door, he had one last thing to say: “I'm disappointed in you, Courtney. You had promise and ambition, but you failed us all. I thought you were better than this.”

Tears welled in her eyes, not from the fact that she was losing her internship and would probably never find another one, but because she was so angry. “I _helped_ him! How dare he get me in trouble after all I did for him!” Much like everything else in the office, she knocked the papers onto the floor, with the exception of the letter. “He's lucky I didn't kill that bitch for hurting him like she did! How didn't he appreciate that?”

She started opening the envelope, monologuing as she did. “I could have treated him so much better than her, but he's too stupid to realize that. No matter. The fact that I got a second letter from that precious criminal of mine means I can just fall back on him. I'm sure Duncan would know how to treat me with more respect now than that horrible Alejandro ever could!”

As she finished speaking, she had begun to read the letter, her lips forming a smile slowly with every line. It wasn't much of a letter, but in its sparse text there was one message that came through loud and clear, which was that Duncan was finally being released from jail and wanted her there when he got off the bus back to the real world. She screamed in excitement, fully believing that this was his way of telling her that he wanted to give them another shot.

By the time she left that law firm's offices for the last time, all of her belongings in tow, she was so focused on getting to see Duncan in five days that she had pushed all the negativity from her mind. For the first time in a long while, all Courtney wanted was acceptance, not murder or death.

* * *

“That's so cool that you've got something to do the same day we leave!” Sierra said, hugging Gwen tightly. “It will take your mind off of us being gone, I bet!”

“It won't, but it will definitely make me less bored while you're gone,” was Gwen's response, as she tried to push Sierra off of her. “Sucks that you guys won't get to know about what happens until you're safe back on the ground, but that's just how it goes. I'm sure by the time I tell you guys, everyone else is going to be tired of hearing about it, no matter what happens.”

It was then that the hug was broken, and Sierra put her hands to her cheeks. “No one would get tired of you telling a story! It's always cool when you're passionate about something, especially when that something isn't art or art history!”

“I wouldn't say it like that.” His eyes narrowed at Sierra, and it was clear that Cody didn't exactly appreciate insulting Gwen in any way, even in a backhanded manner. “Sometimes she says interesting things about art and I like hearing that stuff. Just like I definitely will enjoy it when you tell us what happens with this meeting. Are you excited to get to see him again, or what?”

“It's weird hearing you not be mean about me wanting to see Duncan, but yeah, kinda excited. Not so excited about leaving a certain someone here alone for a few hours while I go over there, but what can I do about it? She wasn't exactly invited, and it's not like she has anywhere else to go.” Gwen held up the letter that she had received in the mail that day, and read aloud the part that explicitly mentioned that she wasn't to bring anyone else along. “It's like he knows that she clings to me like a lost puppy or something.”

A voice, muffled from being in a different room, yelled a response to the last comment. “For fuck's sake, I'm not a lost puppy!”

“I don't know, you're kinda lost puppy-like right now,” Sierra said with a loud laugh. “You whine and beg and tear things apart when you're stressed. And you're kinda sorta reorganizing my fan club headquarters and treating it like it's your territory. I'd say that's definitely puppy behavior.”

The voice on the other side of the wall didn't respond, and they figured it meant she got the point, or didn't want to argue about it any longer. “Sorry that you're going to be stuck alone with her the entire time we're gone, aside from when you'll be working or with Duncan, that is.” Cody tapped his fingers on the top of the table as his eyes began to shift around, unable to focus on anything. “I'm sure it will be fine, but still.”

“What are you so nervous about?” Gwen, noticing his darting eyes that simply could not focus on her as she looked at him quizzically, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You're going to have fun competing in another tournament and being away from reality. Don't worry about me. I'm going to be trapped at home, and aside from those moments where I can get away, I'm going to be on around-the-clock baby watch. You don't realize how lucky you are that you won't be around here for that.”

“Oh, that baby's gotta wait for us to be home before she's born! I wanna be one of the first to get to see her!” The squeal Sierra gave off was loud enough that it was most likely heard out across town, and it was given a groan in response from the other side of the wall. “Oops, sorry about that. Didn't mean to disturb you.”

“Whatever. Sometimes I question why you two share a house with paper-thin walls, but then something like that happens and I realize that it's this way so Cody knows when you're coming.” There were a few bangs on the wall after she finished her sentence, followed with another groan. “Ugh. One of you want to come in here and help me out?”

At the lack of action by the other two, Gwen decided that she would be the one to provide the assistance. The moment she disappeared from view, the two still sitting there looked to each other to talk. “Do you think she's going to be mad?” He had calmed down enough for his eyes to be able to focus on Sierra, but by the way the tapping had gotten more intense, it was apparent that Cody was still nervous about something. “She's convinced we're still going along with what she said.”

“We can't stop a grown woman from doing what she wants,” Sierra replied, her voice barely above a whisper to keep from being overheard. “And why would we want to stop Heather from coming with us? If she wants to come to Hawaii and have a last bit of fun, then that's that and we are going to let her!”

“But Gwen really thinks that things are going to be bad if she goes.” He looked to the table, where the letter Gwen had received that had sparked this meeting rested. “Maybe we should put our feet down and tell Heather that we really can't let her come with.”

“And break her heart? Haven't you seen how much she wants to go with us? Come on, we've got to give this to her. _I've_ got to give this to her.” Sierra sighed, thinking about all that betrayal and backstabbing that she had been part of. “This is going to be the first trip for her in a while where I'm not stupidly telling that big meanie jerkface where she's going to be, and I think she needs it.”

Cody took what she was saying to heart, but something deep inside of him told him that everything they were talking about was a very bad idea, a feeling he had to verbalize before it was too late. “Okay, I do appreciate your opinion on some things, really, I do, but maybe this is one where your opinion is not the right one. I'm really starting to think that if we disobey Gwen and manage to get her on that plane with us, things will go wrong.”

“Don't worry so much, Codykins! We've got to keep a positive attitude about it. Like I said before, that baby's gotta wait for us to be back here, not because I won't be there to see her right away, but because we need Gwen around to see her too!” This time, when talking about the baby, she was able to refrain from squealing, but her voice was raised just enough over the course of the sentence that it gathered the attention of the person in question, who stuck her head around the corner and asked why, exactly, she had heard her name. “No reason,” she quickly said, hoping that it would be enough to cover her tracks.

“You're not out here talking about something you don't want me to know about, are you?” Gwen's eyebrows raised as she asked, suspicious about what was happening. “Like, for instance, something to do with that letter that I can so see you looking at, Cody.”

He jumped at the sound of his name, nearly falling out of his seat. “What? No, I'm just trying to see what it says! I can be happy about you getting to see him, but it doesn't mean that I'm not at least a little bit worried about what his intentions are!”

“I don't think he'd be stupid enough to try something funny after having spent so many years in jail. He just wants someone there for him when he gets out, that's all. No big deal.” She let her face go back to a relaxed position, then pulled her head back to where she couldn't be seen. “I've got to help figure out where all of these pictures came from, so I'll be back to talk to you in a bit. Whatever you do, don't actually read my private mail, got it?”

They swore they wouldn't read it and she could be heard going into the other room, loudly asking how the box of pictures fell, and the response was muffled enough to not be able to be heard. Sierra blinked a few times, before it mentally processed that that box of pictures was hers and, as that room in particular held all of her weird fan club belongings, she really should be part of the fixing of the problem. After she jumped up and ran into that room, it left Cody sitting there at the table, everyone from around him gone, with only that letter as his company.

He was fully aware that he had said he wasn't going to read it, but still something about it didn't sit well with him. What if it spoke of good intentions but was going to bring along pain and suffering for someone? It was going to be the beginning of a sticky situation if that was the case, because if something went wrong at that meeting, Gwen would be returning home to an empty house that she was convinced someone would be waiting for her at. And she would then not only be angry about whatever transpired at the bus station, but also the fact that her friends had blatantly ignored her word.

“What's got you so deep in thought?” It was the first time since everyone had come into this house that he had actually heard Heather's voice not muffled by the wall, and he looked up from the letter to see her slowly situating herself in the chair directly across from him. “It can't be what we're going to do, is it?”

“Actually, it kind of is. I'm really rethinking letting you come.”

She frowned, trying to summon up some pity tears. “But you know how much I love being there for you whenever you're playing in tournaments. Especially ones that get me away from this place and anywhere that a certain asshole can't find me.”

“You really want nothing else to do with him, don't you?” When she nodded, he couldn't help but give her a sad smile. “You used to want him so badly. I remember, way back when, you used to look at him with such longing and desire and now you want nothing to do with him. It's sad.”

“How was I supposed to know that he'd go from charming and attractive to clingy and pushy and nothing I ever wanted to see in someone I loved?” Even though she was talking about someone she didn't like, just listening to Heather's voice and the tinge of sadness in it let Cody know that she wasn't going to act like she hadn't wanted things to go well. “If things could have worked out between me and him, I would have been fine with that. Actually, if he came up to me right now and was able to talk to me without insulting me, or bringing up getting back together, or any of that bullshit, I would like it. A lot.”

Cody's smile became more of a frown as he heard that, not because of the thought of someone he cared for actually liking something she had been so against, but because of how sad she sounded when she talked. “You want someone to be there for you through this, don't you?”

“Oh yeah. It would have been great if I had someone around who would have loved me not as a friend, but as something more, but what am I going to do about it? Nothing, that's what. The past is the past, I've got no one but my friends and my baby and myself and you know what? That's okay. That's how it's meant to be.” Although her voice was still sad-sounding, the grin she put on her face was more than real. “I can't wait to sneak off to Hawaii with you guys, have some fun, and then come back and have to face reality. There's a lot that's going to happen soon, and I think I'm ready to face it.”

There was no need for him to ask what she was referring to, because it was the most prominent and out-of-place thing in the entire room, and for the first time since his house had been invaded by the ladies he wasn't thinking about the letter on the table. He caught himself looking from her face down to where her arms were resting, which was on the top of her incredibly swollen and rounded stomach that he honestly was surprised she wasn't complaining about. “So, are you going to miss being able to do that?”

“What, this? Ew, no, I'm going to be so happy when I don't look like I'm hiding a very large melon under my shirt, thank you very much.” She laughed for a moment, but got very serious when she went to say something else. “I hope we can convince the guards at the airport that I'm not this size because I'm about to pop. I really want to go with you guys, and I don't want them to spoil my fun. No matter what, I'm gonna make it out to Hawaii with you.”

He awkwardly laughed in response, but it was a grim reality that they could have the trip ruined for her that easily. The the laughter abruptly stopped, because he noticed two people standing behind Heather that he hadn't seen before—and if one of them had heard the conversation, that was the end of everything. But she seemed blissfully unaware of anything that was being planned under her nose, and her only motion was to grab her letter and hug it tightly to her chest. “I can't believe that, in five days, you guys are going to be leaving and I'm going to be seeing Duncan again. It's just so perfect, isn't it?”

Everyone said it was, knowing that what was coming was not at all what she was expecting it to be. And five days later, after a farewell breakfast that seemed more suited for a permanent parting and not a temporary one, Gwen had made sure to leave her pregnant friend safely back at her place, just to make sure she didn't get any ideas of trying to board the plane, and didn't bother going to see the other two leave. She had more important things to take care of, like looking her best and making sure to get to the right bus station early enough to mentally prepare herself for what was coming.

She held the letter tight in her hand, as she stood alongside the wall waiting for the passengers to disembark their bus and join back with their friends and family. But amidst the anxiously waiting parents, children, and lovers, she felt mostly out of place. She was there, not because of her own desire, but because she had been asked to be present by an ex-boyfriend, and as he had spent the past several years in prison it was safe to assume that there really wasn't anyone else who would want to be there for him.

That was what she thought, or, at least, it was until she saw a mousey-brown head of hair coming in her direction, accompanied by a shrill voice that was talking to no one that she would never forget. “You've got to be kidding me...” she muttered. “Did he really invite Courtney too?”

There would soon be time to ask that question to Duncan himself, she realized, as the bus had arrived and people were getting off of it, and after all of the joyous and tearful reunions around them had ended and everyone else had left to go on with their lives, it was just her and Courtney standing there waiting. Was this not the right bus, she worried, or had they been tricked? “Fancy seeing you here, Gwen,” that shrill voice said, followed with Courtney's hand being placed on her shoulder. “Who are you waiting for today?”

“Probably the same person you are. How did you know this was happening today? I'm sure he only invited me.” The letter was held a bit more tightly. “Now go away and pick someone else to bother.”

“Sorry, but he did invite me too. Said something about wanting to be friends again. He didn't mention that you'd be here though.” The banter would have continued had they not been interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat, and both of them shifted their attention from each other to the man that was standing before them.

The amount of time between seeing him and the two ladies losing all civility that had existed between them was a matter of seconds. As he started to wave at them both, they started fighting over who would get to talk to him first—or, rather, Courtney was the one doing the fighting, pushing Gwen away and then kicking her in the leg, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. This allowed her to be the one to get to Duncan first, but when she got to him she didn't get what she had expected. “Hey there,” she sweetly said, batting her eyelashes in his face. “How's it going?”

“It's going just fine, for having gotten off a prison bus and all. Did you really just knock her down to get to me? I was going to talk to you both to catch up, but maybe now I'm rethinking that.” She gasped and tried to explain herself and her actions, but he walked right past her and made his way over to Gwen, who was a bit dazed at what had landed her on the ground. As he helped her back to her feet, something snapped inside of Courtney and then she had one goal: get Duncan away from Gwen at all costs. She was _not_ going to lose two possible companions in the same week.

“Whoa, hey, thanks for helping me up...” There was no denying that there was some sort of attraction in Gwen's voice, and when Duncan didn't let go of her hand even after she was back standing, it was clear that he, this rugged criminal who had grown used to solitary life behind bars, was still attracted to her too. “You can let go of me now, though. I'm fine.”

Instead of letting go, he reached to grab her other hand, but was stopped by her shoving it, and the letter it held, in her pocket. “Hey, I just want to catch up with you, maybe go out again, or something. It's not every day that a guy gets released from jail to a beautiful girl waiting for him.”

“I came only because I figured it would be polite to be here for you,” she said, a small smile on her lips, “but I didn't expect you to actually want me here. Especially when I saw that you invited Courtney too.”

Courtney didn't hear the context in which her name was said, but she did hear her name and assumed that it was an invitation for her to join the conversation. As she approached, she heard Duncan replying to what had been said before, and her outlook changed: “Yeah, inviting her was a mistake. I hadn't wanted to talk to her or anything, but someone suggested I did and I figured hey, there's no harm in it. But I only ever wanted you here.”

“Huh. That's funny, since I broke up with you.”

“You came, didn't you? Means you still cared.” He grinned and pulled her hand to his face, kissing it tenderly. “Now I'm sure I know what you're thinking, and let me tell you, I'm thinking it too. Let's go on that date I mentioned, right now.”

Instead of Gwen's answer being heard, whatever words she was to say were drowned out by an angry scream coming from Courtney. “You didn't _want_ me here?” she hissed, storming over to the duo and forcibly pulling Duncan's hand off of Gwen's. “Why the fuck did you invite me if you were just going to...ugh, canoodle with this freak!”

“It was suggested to me, along with the info that you've gone crazy, and I had to see this in person to believe it.” He chuckled, but quickly stopped when Courtney started twisting his arm. “Ow! What is your problem?”

“My problem is that you think I'm crazy! I am a future lawyer! I have a career in the making! I am not crazy, and I am not here to be mocked!” She took a few deep breaths and let go of Duncan's arm, acting as if she was going to remain calm. But then she lunged at him, knocking him to the ground with her force against his unsuspecting form, and once he was down she turned her aggression towards Gwen. “You. You, you, you! You knew he wanted you and you didn't have the courtesy to warn me about it!”

“To be fair, you pushed me aside and didn't give me the chance.” Gwen rubbed at her hand where it had been kissed before, paying no attention to the angered pose Courtney was taking towards her. “And, besides, I figured you didn't care about him like that.”

“You didn't care about him that way either! Weren't we friends that both swore him off?” When Gwen shrugged and said that they weren't friends and hadn't been in a long time, it broke the final straw holding Courtney's sanity together, and she lost her composure. “That is it! If I walk out of this bus station without a boyfriend, I am going to kill someone!”

Sitting up and checking himself for injuries from his fall to the concrete, Duncan couldn't help but laugh. “It's a darn shame that you're not swaying me with your insanity then, isn't it?”

“Even the threat of someone dying won't change your mind?” She stepped closer to him, looking down at him with a sly grin. “Come on, make the sacrifice! Being with me would save a life!”

“No thanks, babe. I've dealt with enough crazy in prison to last me a lifetime.” His answer was quite obviously not the correct one for the situation, as Courtney shook her head at it, before turning and rushing at Gwen. In the split second of reaction time he had, he was only able to yell for her to watch out at what was coming.

By the time his words clicked in Gwen's head, she looked from her hand to see Courtney's fist coming right for her face, and what little dodging she was able to do turned the hit from a direct facial blow to one on the side of the jaw. The attack had enough force behind it to make her stumble backwards, hitting the wall hard enough to cause her head to be filled with splitting pain. “W-what was that for?” she choked out, her words nearly unintelligible not because of the blow to her jaw but because she was fighting intense pain just to speak.

“For stealing my man, that's what!” Courtney grabbed her keys from her pocket and, using them as a weapon, stabbed them up into Gwen's neck. “You have been top priority to kill for a very long time, and I am so glad that I'm getting to do this. Bye bye, gothie. Hope you enjoy being alone forever.”

Before Gwen got the chance to try to ask why she was the target for killing, the keys dug into her skin and she couldn't find the power to talk—only made worse by Duncan, who jumped onto Courtney's back and was able to wrestle her to the ground to stop her. The problem was, she had still been holding onto the keys when she was tackled, and the ensuing wrestling had caused her to dig the keys deeper and slice with them. Blood started to spill and, with a crowd gathering and a brawl beginning to take place on the ground in front of her, Gwen collapsed from a mixture of the pain and the injuries.

When she woke up, her neck stinging from where it had been stitched back together, her first reaction was to find out what had happened. The nurse standing by was more than willing to update her on everything he knew, aside from the fates of the two people who had been caught brawling next to her body, but it was what followed that piece of non-news that made her blood boil. When they had called the number in her phone she had marked as her home one, a choice made because they weren't sure she was going to wake up anytime soon and they needed to alert someone to the situation, no one had answered. Not after multiple tries, odd since the last message on her phone had said something about _someone_ being at her house.

She tried to groan but there was too much pain to make much of a noise. That was when the nurse gave the other bit of information he knew: her voicemail box had its message changed, to someone saying they were incredibly sorry, but they just had to go...somewhere. The message hadn't really been clear after that, the words garbled by laughter. And that was when she knew exactly what had happened with that: against her words and her superior judgment, Cody and Sierra had still picked Heather as their third person for their trip.

There was nothing she could do but be incredibly disappointed in the turn of events that had happened, and that would have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the point where there's only one chapter left! For everyone who's read this so far, thank you for reading! For the guest who commented, thank you for leaving positive input that brought a smile to my face! Now there's only the chapter after this and we're done, so please enjoy what's been written so far and look forward to next week!


	10. Endings are for Hawaii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life has a lot of moments that, upon looking at them, seem to reflect things that have already happened. Then there are things that happen that should have been figured, but never were because life likes throwing curveballs. But one thing, one constant, that fits into both of those categories, reigns supreme in the lives of these two: what finds its beginning on an airplane will find its ending in tropical paradise.

It was a miracle that they were able to even make the flight to Hawaii in the first place, not because of rude security guards but because Sierra was hopeless when it came to getting to the airport from Gwen's house. Her getting them lost twice meant that when they finally did get to the airport, there was barely enough time to get everything checked in and over to the gate, and they were minutes away from being left there. It didn't help at all that only two of the three of them were able-bodied enough to make an attempt to run across the airport—but because it was the third person who was the reason they were somewhere where they'd get lost in the first place, they had to hope that walking quickly would do it for them.

When they did make it to the gate, the guard checking tickets made no comments towards them, but had raised his eyebrows as he scanned and returned their tickets to them. Maybe he had remained silent, aside from his forced greeting and well wishes, because of the glares the three of them were giving him, or maybe it was because he had no idea that he should have questioned what he was letting onto the plane. But his silence let them on, and that flight and the one that directly followed it went well, until they had landed at the airport in Hawaii and everyone aboard turned their phones back on. The sounds of everyone on the plane getting messages filled the air, but it was the phones belonging to those three that quickly became the loudest.

“You think Gwen realized I'm not there?” Heather said with a laugh as she started to listen to the first of many voicemails that she had missed. But just a few seconds into it she gasped and as she kept listening, her eyes widened more and more until it was easy to tell that they were full of worry. “These aren't her. These are some guy I've never heard before. She...something happened, I guess? Guys. We left and something bad happened.”

“Shhh, you're probably just overreacting,” Sierra replied, while she completely ignored her phone. “She's gotta be just playing a prank on us. She was so dead serious about how if you came with us, something bad was gonna happen to you.”

Cody shook his head, reading the text messages that his phone had received over the flights. “No, she's right. I don't know what, but something happened to Gwen after we left and she's pretty mad that there wasn't a certain someone,” he pointed at Heather, “waiting at her house for her to come home from the bus station.”

“Oh, so we're going to pin the blame here on me? I wasn't the one who invited me to come to Hawaii with you guys!” She deleted all the voicemails after listening through them all, as they weren't really of any use. “Not like it matters though. We're here and we're staying here as long as we're supposed to. She's got friends still in Canada to take care of her.”

“I wasn't blaming you, but okay.” Cody stood up, as everyone around them already had. “Now let's get going. I want to get off this plane as fast as possible so I can call Gwen to apologize for what we've done.” His words got through to Sierra, but Heather didn't bother to move. “Okay, really? We've been on this plane for hours and I'm sure you'd like to get to sit somewhere more comfortable than that chair.”

She rolled her eyes and made no intentions of moving. “I don't want to stand and wait on my feet, thank you very much. My feet still hurt from having to rush to get on this plane in the first place. And I'm kinda tired from all the times I got up during the flight.” The two standing next to her both looked at her with frowns. “You can't blame me for not wanting to stand. It's difficult.”

“You're the one who insisted with coming with.” There was no way he was going to be able to squeeze between the back of the chairs in the row ahead of them and Heather without hurting her, so there just wasn't going to be a victory for Cody in this situation. “Besides, did you really have to get up so many times?”

She didn't so much as bat an eyelash as she gave a quick response. “Yes, yes I did. You try sitting for an entire flight with someone pressing on all your insides. Trust me, you're lucky I've gotten used to what she does in there, but it was still pretty bad. Now don't make me get up until we're actually getting off the plane, okay?”

“Fine, whatever.” He sat back down and turned away from her to talk to the person on his other side. “Say, Sierra, don't you think this would be much more fun if we hadn't invited her along? We were warned that all she does is complain, and we really should have listened.”

“I don't know, Codykins, I think she's got a good point to what she was saying!” Sierra crossed her arms over her chest and proceeded to explain why, exactly, she thought that. “I mean, we don't have any clue what it's like being in her situation, but from what I read, it's like the worst thing ever! I'm sorry, I really am, but I'm pretty sure she's got like every right in the world to complain if that book was even half right.”

At the same time that Heather said something about how the book was indeed at least half right, Cody gave Sierra a wide-eyed stare. “Why were you reading pregnancy books? I'm pretty sure that they were bought for a purpose, and that purpose has nothing to do with you.”

“I, heh, thought maybe that reading them would cure me of all this baby fever I've got, but I think it only made it worse.” She was blushing, seemingly ashamed to have to admit such a thing. “But now I know like everything there is to know about having a baby, and whenever you're ready to give it a shot I'm totally down for it.”

“Whoa, no thank you!” Based on his reaction, he wasn't even thinking about it in his dreams, a fact everyone knew. “The closest thing you're ever getting to a child is going to be someone else's, because I am _not_ doing that for you. Ever.”

“Not even if I asked nicely?”

He shuddered and stood back up, turning away from her once more. “Not even then. I can't believe you just suggested that. Now we're getting off this plane and I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened, which means we're back to me asking for a certain someone to get up.”

“Which I'm still not going to do, by the way.” True to her word, it wasn't until nearly every other person on board had gotten off the plane, and the stragglers were only still on because they were fighting with luggage in the overhead compartments, that she finally stood up in her slow manner—but the lack of speed she used was not to tick the others off more, but rather because there really wasn't any other speed she could go. Thankfully no one else was actually trying to get off the plane at that point, or they would have been stuck following the three, all because they were being led by someone who was taking steps slowly to make sure she didn't hurt herself on any of the chairs lining the aisle, on top of other reasons.

By the time they were in the airport, Cody was ready to leave both of the women behind and not look back, one because she was still trying to apologize for her somewhat creepy and uncalled for comments she had made, and the other because he had realized just how big of a mistake it had been to bring her along. But he had to keep them with him, because they were his friends, and friends stuck together even if they got on each other's nerves. Besides, they had just gone through a long day of flying to get to their island destination, and travel was very stressful, especially with other things that were happening that they now knew about. Understanding why he was mad at them both was one thing, but simply understanding didn't mean he had to interact with them.

In fact, except for when he told them in very plain terms that they were sharing the room that was supposed to be his so he could sleep alone, he didn't speak to them again the rest of the day. And almost all of that time was spent with him trying to get a call through to Gwen, to tell her that she had been right all along, that he should have listened to her, and that he wished that someone had been there for her. Nothing went through that he was aware of, and he went to sleep that night angered at the world for dealing him such a terrible hand just days before what was going to be the start of the biggest event of his life.

When morning came, so came with it the reminder that he wasn't in Hawaii alone. He was woken up by the knocks on his door that he had grown used to back home, and even though he was still pretty angry at Sierra for what she had said, he had to let her in. She brought with her an unwilling and unhappy Heather, who, just like the day before, was still being a complaining mess. But these complaints weren't so much about anything that anyone there could control, because she too had spent the previous night trying to get to talk to Gwen about what had happened, with the same results that Cody had. “I don't know why she's not answering,” she said as she situated herself in the only chair in that hotel room. “I don't think she's too mad at us. She can't be.”

“I think she very well can be, and that's why she's not answering. She told us not to do this, not to bring you, and yet we did and we're here and not only is she alone, but she's been hurt too.” He fidgeted with his hands a bit, clearly nervous but also trying to keep himself calm and not too angry. “If you had been there, you would have been around for her, and I think she's most angry about that.”

“We all know she didn't want me there.” It was an honest statement, one that hurt to be heard. “I have been told so many times about how terrible I am to have around, and I know for a fact that she wanted me gone. Not here with you guys, but gone from her place.” Heather sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “She may have wanted what she thought was best for me, but apparently what that meant was for me to be somewhere far away from her. I think she would have been more than happy if you know who decided he was going to come around and take me back.”

“But you would have been happy about that too, given the right circumstances,” Cody replied, continuing on with his hand-wringing. “Don't think I don't remember that you said that to me. If he came to you with intentions that weren't to get back into a relationship with you, you'd be interested again. It would give everyone what they wanted.”

Sierra felt the need to speak then, but she barely got a word out before she was cut off by Heather, who had tilted her head back down and was now glaring at Cody. “No. It would not give everyone what they wanted. I don't want to get back with him. I don't want to live with him. I like how things are going and I wouldn't change them for the world, but if he decided to stop thinking only about himself and focus more on what's best for me, then maybe I'd, uh, want to spend time with him again. Or something.”

“Or something? You know you'd eventually get back with him.” Once again, when Sierra tried to say something she was stopped by someone else talking, and this time Cody was trying to lay down the facts. “Ever since you met him, you've denied how you've really felt just because you don't want to seem weak. And liking, or even loving, someone isn't weak. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm pretty sure your attraction to him has screwed you over in a way you've got to stop denying, and even if you're convinced you don't like him, and will only like him if he stops wanting you, you've really got to accept that he's got a big reason to want you. A big reason that has made you weaker than simply liking him ever could.”

“Yeah, you've got to accept that there's a huge piece of him inside of you,” Sierra finally said, taking the opportunity given to her by the silence made by Heather's lack of response. “Well, two huge pieces of him. One's kinda been there since you guys first met, though.”

“We aren't starting that argument. Please. I'll accept that ever having feelings for him was probably my weakest point, and it's fucked me over badly, but we aren't going to start talking about _when_ I started to have feelings for him. That's something that I'd rather not go into again as long as I live, okay?” The way she spoke was hiding some deeper meaning, but for that moment, it was all she was going to say on the matter. “As for there being pieces of him inside me, that's about the dumbest thing you've ever wanted me to accept. Of course that's how it is! He...ugh! He was the first guy I gave myself to. The first one I ever wanted to be with. And this is what that got me.”

Both Cody and Sierra could do nothing but watch as she wrapped her arms around her stomach the best she could and started crying. “This is all that got me. That's it! Nothing but a damn stupid baby that's going to look just like him and act like him! And I don't know how well I'm going to handle this without his smug ass around to help me!”

“You know, I can say that he has wanted to be around to help, the entire time,” Sierra said softly, hoping that by taking a calm voice, she would be able to stop the crying. “Yeah, he wants to be there with you because you guys love each other, but he's totally down for helping. I'm sure you could ask him right now and he'd agree with me!”

“Are you insane? I could never ask him for that. It would just end up with him getting what he wanted, like it always was going to. I'm not going to let that happen.” She was still crying, with tears just rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't sound as upset as she had a moment before. “I've stuck it out this long, right? What's stopping me from handling it for the rest of forever? I've got friends, and I know you guys will be there for me and her so much more than he ever could be.”

Sierra happily smiled. “Of course! No matter what you'll have me around to watch over the best and most important little baby in the history of ever!”

“Whoa, hey there, no one said I'm going to let you watch her.”

“Oh, sorry.” Her smile faded, replaced with a curious expression as she heard Heather laughing despite her tears. “Hey, what's so funny?”

“It's just humorous that you really think I'm going to trust _you_ alone with her.” The crying was seemingly over, and she was wiping tears from her eyes as she laughed. “I'm pretty sure you'd take her straight to her father, and I'm sorry but I'm not going to ever risk letting that happen. He's not getting what he wants.”

“Sierra's done helping him out,” Cody reminded her, “and I'm sure she'd be too busy fawning over the fact that she's watching a baby to care about anything like that.”

“Yeah! I just want to be able to say that I've held, or played with, or done something with the very first Total Drama baby ever! And since we're friends, you'd do that for me, wouldn't you?” There was no hiding the begging in her voice, but it was justified in that Sierra had been excited about the baby for that very same fact ever since she had found out that there was going to be a baby at all. “I just want to be able to post on my blog that I actually got to be with her. That's all.”

“Your blog? I thought I told you no posting anything else about her!” If it weren't almost impossible for her to do it, Heather would have lunged at Sierra and hurt her until she took that back, but since there was no way in the world she was going to be able to move fast enough to do such a thing, her words had to be enough. “If I go on there and find anything else about me that's more recent than the post where you effectively ruined my life...”

Both of her hands in the air in a defensive pose, Sierra immediately began to protect herself. “I promise that's the last thing I posted about you! You might find me mentioning you offhandedly in posts but there's nothing else major on there! Promise!” When she felt the situation had calmed a bit and continuing talking about that matter wouldn't get death glares shot in her direction, she lowered her hands. “Besides, I know well enough that posting that she's a girl and that her name is gonna be Isabella and—“

She was cut off by a groan. “For the last time, that's not going to be her name!”

“Yes it is, that's what you said it was!” Sierra got off the edge of the bed and cautiously got closer and closer to Heather, until she was right next to her and was able to place one hand gently on the swollen stomach before her. “You said it was and I'm so excited about that!”

“Don't touch me,” she was coldly told, and she pulled her hand away as Heather just sat there and shook her head at what had just happened. “I never once said that was her name. You must have misheard what I said, because I would never, in a million years, name my child something that has been ruined by a shitty character in a terrible series. Even if the name is cute.”

“Oh, haha, sounds like something I'd do, mishearing you about something that important.” Sierra took a few small steps backwards, her eyes shifting to the floor. “Sorry if what I did upset you or anything. I just wanna show you I care.”

“I'm fairly certain you can show that you care without touching me, or getting the name of my little princess wrong, or anything like that.” She looked to Cody, who was just watching what was happening. “Can you please control your woman?”

He sighed. “I'd argue that she's not my woman, but I know that's a pointless argument. I'm not going to control her, though, because me trying to control her would be like, hm...” He stroked his chin in thought for a second. “Oh, right, it would be just like what a certain someone had tried to do to you, wouldn't it?”

“Except you control her in the name of sanity and he tried to control me to make his family proud or something. Totally different situations.” She leaned back into the chair, kicking her feet up and nearly hitting Sierra in the process. “Now tell her to go away or something, because she's starting to really bother me.”

While Sierra whimpered something about how she could hear what was being said, it was now Cody's turn to be defensive of her. “She's just trying to be a good friend. Like Gwen was. And we see how well her being a good friend to you ended up. Maybe we should have left you back in Canada, so you could have been there for someone who needed you, after she had been there for you all the times you needed her.”

“So she was hurt by something at the bus station. Big deal. I'm sure she's fine and she's just playing up not talking to us for the sake of teaching us a lesson. Besides, what's the worst that could happen to her? Dying? I'm pretty sure we'd know if she died, and then we'd go back and that would be the end of that.” It was a heartless thing to say, but at that moment, it was all she could think of. She didn't want anything more bad to happen to someone who had cared so much about her in her times of need, but she really didn't think anything else bad could happen.

Later that afternoon they all got confirmation that Gwen was indeed fine, and aside from a nasty gash on her neck that required a bunch of stitches, everything was going to be perfectly fine for her. It took some weight off their shoulders, knowing she was going to be okay after whatever had happened, and it made the next few days before the tournament started go by a lot easier, if without any contact from their dear friend.

* * *

There were few things that, looking back on them, had been good about Sierra being involved in the whole attempt to get Alejandro back with Heather. And one of them was the fact that she had always been willing to give exact information about where someone was at any given time, and that included addresses. Without all the little details that she had handed him in their time working together towards the same goal, he wouldn't have been able to do what he was about to do, and after what he had heard about happening, he needed to do this.

After all, there was some involvement of his own when it came to Courtney getting what she had so badly deserved. He thought about that with a solemn look on his face as he stood at the door of a tiny little house, waiting for someone to answer it after several knocks. The person on the other side was exactly who he had expected it to be, in mostly the same state he had last heard she was in. “Uh, what are you doing here?” Gwen's voice was full of shock and surprise, which was quickly turning to anger as she continued. “How did you get my address? Are you telling me you could have come over here at any point and I wouldn't have known it?”

“Yes, but that is not relevant. I need to talk to you about something.” The serious tone he used was enough to convince Gwen, who had been through so much because of him over the past several months, to give him a chance. Minutes later, they were staring at each other in silence, unsure of where to go with what needed to be said. “I see you are not wearing pants today. Do you typically greet guests at the door in an undressed state?”

“No, and don't mention my lack of pants again. It's not important here, but you being here is.” Gwen was squirming where she sat, tugging her shirt down as far as it would go with her legs crossed tightly. “Tell me why you're here.”

“I will in due time, but first I must know why you have no pants on and look like you have been doing something that someone who should be recovering from an attack should not be doing.” He looked at her with concern in his eyes and a genuinely curious expression on his face. “You could damage some of those stitches if you do anything too strenuous in nature.”

A chuckle was heard up from up on the loft bed, giving what Alejandro had said more credibility. “Okay, how do you know this stuff? You have a lot of things you need to be answering, first one being how you got my address in the first place.”

“Ah, that is something I am sure I will get nowhere without explaining. Did it ever cross your mind how Duncan ended up with it as well?” At the sound of his name, a freshly-dyed green head of hair poked out over the edge of the bed, laughter still coming from it. “I am sure he did not tell you, and I do not hear you interrogating him.”

“That's because he...whatever. What's your point?”

He turned to look up at the head hanging over the bed's edge. “My point is that you should question his source of knowledge too. You did not tell her how you got her address, did you?”

“Damn straight I didn't,” Duncan said, curbing his laughter as he moved back onto the bed properly, then turned so that he could sit over the edge and watch the conversation from above. “I got out of lockup for the brawl, found where they took Gwen, then came here. Been taking care of her since.” He took a suggestive tone with his last sentence, and Gwen started to blush, her face lighting up to a vibrant red. “I've been using my mouth for too many other things to tell her how I knew where she lives.”

“That was more than I ever wanted to imagine about your relationship, but I think that, since you are not using your mouth in any sexual ways now, you can explain your part of the story and then I can tell mine.” Alejandro put his lips together in a stern expression, looking Duncan straight in the eyes. “Or shall I be the one who tells everything?”

“I don't care, dude. If you really want me to explain to her all these details about something I don't really understand your part in, aside from telling me to send letters to Courtney, then so be it.”

“Hold on.” Gwen's attention was grabbed by the mention of her attacker, and she leaned forward closer to the two guys. “You're responsible for him telling that bitch to be there?”

Although he wasn't looking in her direction, he was positive that by admitting his guilt in that situation, there was a huge chance that he'd get kicked out for what had happened. But that was all part of why he was there, and he had to run that risk. “Yes, I am. It was not my intention for her to snap on you, but I assume that she was hurt so much by me rejecting her that she felt that attacking you was a fair way to deal with it.”

“You're going to make this about you? Really? She stabbed me with those keys because she was jealous that Duncan wanted me, not because of anything to do with you!” Gwen stood up, pulling her shirt down to successfully cover everything that didn't need to be out in the open, and she got right into Alejandro's face once she was properly covered. “Now either get out or explain how you know where I live!”

He had been forced to turn his attention to her when she was so close to him, but before he got the chance to speak, Duncan answered the question for him. “He knows because Sierra told him. She told me too. Of course, she told me so that I could send letters to you, but he told me that she told him so that he could have it just in case.”

“In case what?”

“In case something happened that required me to come over here. Granted, I believe she had things dealing with my Heather in mind, but coming here to apologize for my role in what happened between you and Courtney is also a fair reason.” As carefully and politely as he could, Alejandro got up, moving past Gwen without touching her and disturbing her shirt's perfect position, and made his way to the door. “And now that I am aware that you do not care about my involvement in that, I will leave just like you asked.”

She huffed, sitting back down and demanding for him to do the same, which he did. “You can't just come into my house and tell me something like that without explaining. Which I expect you to start doing right now.”

“Of course. As I am sure you know from one source or another, namely Sierra, I was working with Courtney to find some lawful way to get myself back with Heather. Quite obviously, it did not work, and all that came from it was a broken heart on my part, and a lot of problems for Courtney.” He brought one of his hands to his chin as he continued recounting the events that had led to the attack. “While it was clear that she did not always have the correct intentions in mind, there was one fact that could not be disputed, and that was her need for someone to love. Or, rather, someone to reject her. And that was where I got involved with Duncan and his side of this story, because I needed him to turn Courtney down and make her realize her behavior was not as great as she thought it was.”

“Then how did I get involved in this?” Gwen asked, trying to make sense of everything. “Is it because I was housing the woman who scorned you?”

“No, not even in the slightest. You getting involved was all due to Sierra, who figured that getting you and Duncan together once more would get you away from her Cody. Fittingly enough, the original reason she was involved with me and Courtney was because she wanted to get Heather away from them as well.” Alejandro laughed, thinking about that entire mess and what had transpired in that dark hallway in Vegas so long ago, where he had called Sierra out on her actions and she had denied them. “But today I came here on my own, not because I bear any ill will towards you, but rather because I must apologize for what happened. Things would have been fine enough without you getting injured.”

Still up on the loft, Duncan kicked his feet around a bit. “Nah man, her getting injured has been a lot of fun for us. And it means that Courtney finally gets to see what it's like to be on the wrong side of the law. From what I heard while in lockup, they're going to try to get her good for what she did.”

“I could have done without the bleeding and the stitches and the scar that'll be there forever, but really, it's going to make for a cool story someday.” This time when Gwen stood up, she didn't care that her lower body was exposed, causing Alejandro to avert his eyes to anywhere that wasn't near her. She was only exposed for a few moments, because she had gotten up to grab herself some pants and quickly put them on. “Now, the part where the nurse tried to call the person who should have been here waiting for me and got a changed voicemail message that said she was on the plane to Hawaii that she shouldn't have been on...”

“What do you mean, that she should not have been on?” Alejandro was looking back at Gwen, this time with a questioning glance. “Is that not her decision, whether or not she goes on a trip? I may have been attempting to control her at one point, but I would never stop her from going somewhere if she chose to go.”

Just like when she had been forced to explain the reasoning behind her stance six weeks before, Gwen put a smirk on her face that said she knew what she was talking about. “Looks like you and her both don't seem to realize what a due date exactly means. Although I guess that's forgivable on your part, since she didn't want you around at all.” She rolled her eyes as she continued. “And since I was, to put it nicely, the lucky one who got to drive her everywhere she needed to go for the sake of that baby, I'm pretty confident that, unless everything she showed me had the wrong date on it, there is a very real possibility that, well, you know.”

“I know what?” He was looking at her blankly now, trying to make sense of what was just said to him. “I apologize, because unlike you, I have no real knowledge about babies and things related to them in the slightest.”

“And yet you're going to have one, even though you're never going to see her. Huh.” Sitting back down to get herself comfortable for the debate that was surely about to happen, Gwen let her smirk get a bit bigger. “But as I've heard a million times, it wasn't on purpose. Right?”

“That is correct, but do not sound like you are attempting to put the blame on me for this. It was at her insistence that what started this happened. She swore to me that nothing bad would come from it, and while I would never consider my child something bad, this situation is less-than-ideal.” He sighed once he was done speaking, but it was overshadowed by Duncan's laughter up on the loft.

“That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I spent a long time listening to criminals try to justify their behavior.” With a loud thud, Duncan jumped from the loft to the floor, brushing himself off when he landed. “Dude, it doesn't matter if she said nothing was going to happen, you still have to make sure it doesn't, and you didn't, and now you're here and she's in Hawaii and that's just how it is.”

“What point does her being in Hawaii have to do with anything?”

Gwen's face fell, realizing that she wasn't getting to be as sarcastic with things as she had wanted to because the object of her sarcasm needed things explained to him. “Unless there's a crazy miracle that happens, she's most likely going to have that baby there. And if she does, then there's pretty much no chance that you're going to be part of anything involving your precious little girl that you never once made any fuss about until literally right now.”

“That shows how much you know about the situation.” There was a pause of a few seconds, in which Alejandro looked at the other two with anger building inside of him, before he continued to speak. “I have cared about that child since the moment I first knew about her. While I will admit I went about the situation incredibly wrong, I wanted what was best for her from the beginning, and now you are telling me that, unless I find my way out of the country on yet another trip that could easily end in failure for me, I may find myself without anything at all?” When Gwen nodded and said that was exactly what she meant, he sighed again, covering his face with his hands. “I should have figured about as much. Getting myself attached to Heather never once ended well for me, and this is no exception.”

What happened next was the most surprising thing of all: the sound of sniffles that closely accompanied crying came from behind his hands. “She has stolen my heart and soon will have my little girl kept away from me and this is all my fault. If only I had cared less about what my family would have thought about a bastard child and more about the woman who would be carrying said child!” There was no denying the fact that he was crying by the time he silenced himself, as his last words had been shaky and said in a manner that he had never been heard speaking in before. “If only, then maybe she and I would be together and I could be there for her!”

“Okay, stop the waterworks. It's not cute.” Gwen didn't mean to sound so rude, but she did find the dramatics from someone normally so collected a bit jarring. “And maybe, just maybe, I have a way to help you fix all this. But if I help you out, you've got to help me in return. Got it?” He could be seen given a small nod and, with Duncan standing nearby watching curiously, she stated her plan. “So she's out there with Cody and Sierra, both of whom will probably be caring more about that tournament that's the reason they're there than anything. That means that there's a chance she'll be alone when this baby decides she's ready to come, and we don't want that. That's why she was supposed to stay here, so that I'd be around when the time came, but whatever. What happened is in the past and now we've got to come up with a plan that works with what we've got.”

“You're not going to suggest what I think you are, are you?” Duncan asked, and the shrug he got in response was not a good enough answer for him. “I don't know if you're thinking this through enough if you are, and if you're not, then good.”

She bit down on her lip in thought, but quickly stopped when she realized that time was most likely of the essence, and there wasn't much more she could suggest at that point. “Sorry, but if we're thinking the same thing, it's the only way.” With that, she turned to look at Alejandro, who could be heard muttering things to himself in Spanish, and asked him to move his hands off of his face. Once he did, and they locked eyes, she said the strangest thing she could have imagined herself saying at that point. “We've got to get you out there to be for her.”

“Oh, that is what you are saying now, but just wait until I am there and she rejects me once again. I apologize for this, but I cannot just go out to Hawaii with the knowledge that I am not only going to be told to leave her alone forever, but that it will be the closest I will ever get to my child.” He was just about to start the crying again when he realized what, exactly, he had been told. “Wait a moment, did you honestly just suggest sending me?”

“Yeah. I can't go, because of this,” she said, motioning to her stitches, “and Duncan can't go because of probation and other law things. We were going to have to send someone unwilling, and I mean, you ended up right at my front door, so maybe it's for the best if we send you.”

“And you do not think that they will react harshly to seeing me?” He touched part of his face, the part that had been bruised up the last time he interacted with Cody and Sierra. “I really do not want another cue to my face, or a fist.”

For the second time this conversation, she shrugged. “I can't say what they'll do, but I can say that I really don't care what they do. They brought this upon themselves when they decided to take her out of the country, somewhere they knew I wasn't going to follow.”

“They did not take her simply so she could get away from me, correct?” He was given a small nod in response, and he couldn't help but smile. “That is reassuring to hear.”

“You haven't had to listen to her go on and on about how much she wants you back in her life. Trust me, this will be a shock to them that you managed to get there, but as long as you don't even think about mentioning marrying her, things should go over well.” There was a unsettling feeling in the pit of Gwen's stomach at what she was setting up. This was someone who, for the past several months, she had tried to help keep away from Heather at all costs, and now she was actively trying to get him out to where she was. “Oh, by the way,” she said, trying to rid herself of whatever guilt she had, “if they ask how you got there when you do arrive, tell them you're there because of me. Don't hide it and wrap yourself up in more trouble.”

“I understand. They most likely will not believe it, but it is better to tell the truth than lie.” His smile widened and, if it weren't for the door to the house opening right away and Leshawna coming in, he would have jumped up to hug Gwen. Instead, with the arrival of a new person, he turned to look at her with the same smile.

She dropped the three drinks she was carrying and screamed. “Whoa, no need for that,” Duncan calmly said, wide-eyed and looking at her with worry. “He's on our side.”

“Sorry, but seein' that boy anywhere just means trouble for someone, and I ain't having none of that today.” She bent down to pick up the tray of drinks she had dropped, all of which had spilled a bit on their way to the floor. “Figured I'd treat us all to some coffees while we figured out who gets to jet off to Hawaii for some white-girl rescue, but...”

“We've got a new plan,” Gwen told her, standing up, “and it's going to mean a lot more to Heather than any of us going ever could. We're going to send him,” she pointed to Alejandro, whose smile was slowly fading as he began realizing what was going to happen, “and reunite him with the woman of his dreams.”

“The two of them. In Hawaii. Didn't he almost _die_ the last time that happened?” Leshawna's voice held a bit of concern, but she didn't look away from the drinks she was trying to clean up. “I don't think that's as good of an idea as you think it is, darlin'.”

“It might not be a good idea, but it's what's got to happen. Besides, there's a lot more to this than you realize.” By that point, Gwen was helping clean the mess the drinks had made, and while she helped, she recounted the entire story as it had been revealed to have been, making sure to, for the first time in a while, paint Alejandro as not as bad of a guy as he had seemed. When they were done, not only was Leshawna less hostile towards him, but she was also thanking him for being willing to make the trip, as well as being kind enough to apologize for his part in the whole debacle at the bus station. That apology had been what had led him to the house, and without it, none of the planning that lasted much of the afternoon would have happened.

By the time the next day rolled around, everything was in place for him to go, and no one had so much as a little bit of a worry that things would go wrong. After all, Gwen was the one who knew what was best in the situation, and if she thought it was safe for him to go, then it was. All that stood between him and getting another shot at being with the woman he loved so dearly was a twelve-hour flight and a lot of searching, when all he had was a hotel name and a choice of one of two room numbers—because that was all Gwen had been given.

* * *

The venue for the tournament was a very large events center, an indicator of how many people would be competing in it. When the three entered, they were immediately split up and sent onto different directions; Cody was directed towards the competition meeting, while the women were sent up to the spectator viewing area. It made for a boring time for the two ladies, as there was nothing to watch or do except talk to each other while they waited for the meeting to be done, but it was too early in the morning to be awake. It was a sacrifice they had made for the sake of their friend, though, and they had to power through.

After what felt like hours, but really was only about half of one, Cody came up into the stands where his friends were waiting for him, both mostly asleep and not responsive at all when he looked at them with a fear-struck face. “These people are going to eat me alive!” he shouted, trying to wake them both up. “I'm going to die before this all even starts!”

“Oh hush, Codykins,” Sierra said, stifling a yawn. “You're good enough to be here, so you'll do fine. Don't be so hard on yourself.”

“I don't think I'll do fine at all! I may have earned a spot here, somehow, but I didn't deserve it! These people are twice my age, have a million times more experience than me, and actually _earned_ their spots here!” He started shaking, and Sierra had to get up and pull him into a large hug to try to calm him. “You don't understand, I think I got this spot because I'm an ex-reality show contestant and that's it! They want people to watch because I used to be famous!”

“No, no, they brought you here because you're good at playing pool. Please don't put yourself down like this.” Patting his back to get him to stop freaking out, Sierra had to stifle another yawn. “When are you going to start practicing? That'll remind you of how deserving you are of being here, when you can show everyone else what you've got and you can see that they aren't as great as they say.”

“We start in a few minutes,” he answered, “and no, it'll make me realize how bad I am compared to all of them. I wouldn't be surprised if I finish dead last out of all the hundreds of people who are competing. They're all just that good."

“Or maybe it'll make you realize how big of liars all of them are, and that you're going to win this whole darn thing and be the champion you've always wanted to be!” She let go of him long enough to pump one arm into the air. “And once you're the champion, maybe you can work on letting me live out my life's dream, huh?”

She tried to get him back into the comforting hug, but he got out of her grasp and backed away. “I don't think so, Sierra. I know that we're friends, and really good ones at that, but I don't want to be anything more than that. You know this.”

“I know, but it was worth a shot...”

He smiled, glad she understood, but then an idea struck him. “How about this. If I do manage to win, which won't happen, but hey, let's be hypothetical here, then I will take you out on a date to the nicest place you can think of. We won't be together, but a date's a date, right?”

“Right!” she squealed, waking up the third member of their trio, who sleepily attempted to punch Sierra for waking her. But since neither of the others were paying attention to her, the attempt went without being pointed out and she just sat there, trying to fall back asleep.

“Okay, now that we've settled that, I think I'm going to go down to get ready for practice. If you guys get too bored, you're welcome to go back to the hotel and just come back later tonight.” He paused for a second, thinking if there was anything else he wanted to add before he left. “I think I left my phone in my room, anyway, so if you go back could you get that for me?”

“We're going back?” The words were almost unintelligible because they were said mid-yawn, and both of them looked to see Heather staring at them, her attempt at trying to fall back asleep completely futile. “Good. These chairs hurt to sit in.”

“We're not going back quite yet, silly.” Sierra's happy answer made Heather grumble about something or other and try once again to go back to sleep, and once her eyes were closed and she was completely ignoring the others, it was back to talking to Cody, who was slowly walking away. “Wait! When does this practice end, anyway?”

He shrugged. “Like two or something. Then it's a bunch of meetings and prep stuff until five, and then it's go time. If, or when, you guys go back, just make sure you're here by five. I'll be looking for you guys right over here, so I'll know if you don't show up.” As he waved farewell, he added one last thing, on top of another reminder to go to his room and grab his phone for him. “Make sure nothing happens to her, okay? I'm sure Gwen will have our heads twice if we let something happen after we already dragged her here.”

“You got it, Cody-wody!” A double thumbs-up later and he was walking away, back down to the hold underneath the seats they were in. “Yeah, you definitely got it...” She turned to face the still-trying to sleep Heather, who was so wrapped up in her attempt to sleep that she didn't even notice that Sierra was once again coming close to try and touch her. It would have been successful, had she actually been asleep, but since she was awake and opened her eyes at the last second, it startled Sierra into falling into a chair and acting as if she hadn't been doing anything. “Oh, you're still awake, haha.”

“Yes, like I'm actually going to fall asleep in one of these chairs. Do we really have to watch him practice? We've watched him do this same stupid thing a million times and I am so not feeling sitting here much longer.” Stretching while she spoke, it was very clear that she was still incredibly tired, and it might have been more her desire to sleep than any level of comfort in those chairs that was driving her want to go back to the hotel. “Can't we just go back, sleep for a few hours, then return once it's actually close to the time this starts?”

“I don't know, he wouldn't have dragged us along this early if he didn't want us to stay at least a little bit.” Sierra looked down to the empty arena floor, its only occupants being pool tables. “How about this, we stay until Cody knows we're still here, then we can go back? Besides, he's totally expecting us to go back but he's expecting us to stay too.”

Heather gave an over-dramatic and drawn-out sigh. “Okay, whatever. But I'm going to kick your ass if you're making me stay here and suffer for nothing.”

“I promise, it's how it's supposed to be. Once he sees we're still sitting here, we'll go, because at least then he knows we care enough to watch a little bit.” She was proud of her plan, but there was one problem with it: due to the amount of people participating, it wasn't until midway through the entire practice session that either of them saw Cody, and even then, he was too busy to look in their direction and see Sierra waving to him to let him know they were there. After he disappeared into the mass of competitors once more, she gave up on trying to get the message across to him and decided that then was when they were leaving. “It's pointless trying to get his attention, so maybe it'll be best if we leave. At least then he'll know he'll be getting his phone later, right?”

“Right. Please tell me we have a way to get back to the hotel that isn't walking.” She hadn't even stood up from her seat, and already Heather was complaining about yet another thing. “You better be calling someone to come get us, because even if we're staying just down the road, that is still further than I'm going to walk.”

Pulling out her phone to check to see if there was any shuttle service they could use, Sierra started the move towards the exit of the arena, with the expectation that Heather would follow her. The problem was, when she got to the exit doors and had finished arranging for the hotel shuttle to come down the street, pick them up, and take them back to the hotel, she was standing there alone. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, her voice going high-pitched at the end. “You're going so slow to be funny, aren't you?”

As there was no one around to respond, she didn't get a verbal answer. However, she did get a visual one, in the form of one slow, non-exaggerated walk that would more accurately have been referred to as a waddle at that point. “This is getting ridiculous. I know I have to come back later, but ugh. So much walking.”

“Is something wrong? I don't remember you being like this earlier.” Sierra's mood went from a fake anger to concern in a matter of seconds, and she started fiddling with her phone to calm the anxious feeling that was beginning to overtake her. “Should we go somewhere that isn't the hotel? You don't think it's—“

“Oh fuck no, don't even suggest that!” Heather put her hands to her ears to block out whatever words came out of Sierra's mouth next. Once the taller woman seemed to stop talking, she put her hands down, but not before brushing her still-short hair off of her shoulders. “I'm not going to listen to you say that and then have it happen. Sorry.”

“You're still your mean self, so I guess it's just you being funny after all. Good, because I don't think I'd be very good at keeping my calm in that situation.” Getting right back into her chipper mood, Sierra started out the doors. “Now we've got to make sure we get in the right shuttle, because apparently there's one that's going to a different hotel that's by the same company, and if you don't really want to walk, then we definitely don't want to go to the wrong place.” Thankfully for them both, finding the right van to take them back to their hotel wasn't nearly as hard as Sierra had thought it was going to be, and even better, it was just the two of them going for the ride.

“Hey there ladies,” the man behind the wheel of the van said as they got in, one struggling more than the other. “What's the occasion for you being out here? Nice, peaceful vacation? Some sort of babymoon? Heard those are becoming quite common, and if two lovely ladies like you are expecting, then you should celebrate.”

The suggestion was enough to get Heather to snap at him, telling him to just shut up and drive. “Don't mind her, haha,” Sierra apologized, putting her hand on her companion's leg to try and calm her down. “She's had a stressful last few months, with breaking things off with her baby daddy, and then having all sorts of other stuff happen too.”

“Oh, sounds like you two ladies have a long story to tell. I'm all ears, if you want.”

It may have been a short drive, but the man's invitation for Sierra to start recounting the events of the past year was too good for her to pass up. “Well, if you insist, I guess I can tell the story! It started when I was approached by this guy that I used to hate. I didn't hate him because of him, or, maybe I did, but I mostly hated him because he was so rude. But anyway, he came to me because he wanted to get back with his old girlfriend that he had stupidly left for some reason he never really told me! I said I'd help him, because gosh, I could help! All my years of compiling information about my friends would finally help me! And that's how this beautiful lady next to me got involved, because she was the woman that guy wanted.

“So they got back together after someone else, who is a total jerk, by the way, got involved. And I guess things were happy between them? I don't know.” Sierra looked to Heather to see if she would add any input, but she had already started to try to sleep again, and was not going to be any help. “All I do know is that they were like totally engaged and in love and then they were gonna have a baby! Well I guess they still are having a baby, except he's so not allowed to see her and I'm not either because she found out I was helping him try to get back with her again. Whoops.”

“Miss, I'm not getting paid enough to listen to your whole life story. I offered as a pleasantry.” The driver looked back to Sierra through the mirror, but when he saw her pull her wallet out of her pocket and extract a few dollars out of it, he changed his tune. “Never mind, keep going. Just know there's like two minutes before we're there.”

She made good use of those precious minutes. “Okay, so, that all went down. And you know where it happened? Vegas! We were there for a billiards tournament, which is totally why we're here now, by the way, and all this stuff happened and it was so intense! Oh, and one of my best friends almost killed a guy. He's okay now, but he deserved it. She didn't even get in trouble for shooting him in the head with a confetti cannon, though, which was good because, like I said, he deserved it. A guy shouldn't be allowed to be creepy to a woman. Or, at least, that's what Izzy told me happened. She's the friend with the cannon. I wasn't there when this happened, because I was in trouble with my Codykins for being involved in things I shouldn't have been.” There she took a deep breath, before trying to finish up. “I was kinda supposed to invite Izzy to come with me on this trip, but I couldn't find where she ended up! It's like she disappeared from the world or something! But whatever, I wasn't gonna really invite her anyway. I wanted to bring my totally awesome friend Heather along, baby and all.”

“That's lovely. Are you going to give me that cash for listening to this or not?” She nodded and he stuck his hand back just long enough to feel the paper in his palm. “Thank you kindly. Now get out of my van, there's other people who won't talk my ear off for me to drive places.”

It definitely wasn't the most pleasant of rides, but it had been fun for her and she had finally gotten to tell some living person the story, if in a slightly abridged form. But getting out of the van was its own struggle, as Sierra had the honor of having to wake Heather up and get her to get up from a seat much more comfortable than the one at the events center had been. That went over much slower than the driver would have liked, as he kept muttering things under his breath that made it clear he was only doing his job for the pay and not a single bit of the social interaction. Eventually, though, they were both out of the van and into the hotel's lobby, ready to head up to their shared room to kill a few hours.

Naturally, the first thing Heather did once they were in the room was climb into her bed and start yet another attempt to sleep. At that point, it wasn't so much that she was tired as it was that she just didn't want to have to deal with anything, and sleeping was the only solution she could find to her problem. Sierra didn't see a single thing wrong with that, and while the other bed was used for a nap, hers became her impromptu desk as she laid out her laptop, some pictures she had found in her bag, and everything else she needed for some fan club work. Even though she was on vacation, there was no time to stop working on bettering her websites. As a kicker, she was loudly playing a randomized version of her Canada's finest playlist, and singing along to whatever songs she could.

After about an hour of work, or something resembling it, she decided that she was done for the day and deserved to treat herself with something. “Hey, I think I'm gonna head down to the beach for a bit. Wanna come with?” she asked, knowing that there were one of two outcomes to the situation. One was that she would be told in some rude manner that there was no way in the world she would be accompanied, the other was that she would get no answer at all. The latter was what happened, and that meant that Sierra left the room occupied by a finally-resting Heather who, had she been woken up, would have been once again angry to be awake.

She was still asleep when Sierra came back, and rather than questioning if anything was wrong she decided that it was for the best that she leave her alone. That meant more blasting of music, this time as the soundtrack for the shower that was taken to wash off all the sand collected on her dark skin while down at the beach. It was at this time that Heather woke up from her well-deserved nap, feeling just as she had when she started to sleep, except less tired and more uncomfortable with something, and this time there wasn't any sort of arena chair to blame. “Sierra?” she groggily asked, yawning as she did. As she stretched, she felt a pain inside of her that wasn't too strong, but it was noticeable and took her a bit by surprise. “Oh no. No, that's not happening. Stop that.” She pressed at her side a bit, and the pain subsided, going away as quickly as it came on. “There. Better.”

The sound of running water had been drowning the music out up to that point, but as the water shut off the music got louder, and so too did the sound of Sierra loudly singing along with it. “Heh, I bet she thinks I can't hear her. She's so weird, especially since she thinks that damn music collection of hers is actually good. I mean, really? She's listening to an entitled wench who thinks she deserves to be someone's girlfriend over someone else. How low could you get?” She laughed to herself, thinking about how Sierra probably wanted the chance to sing that song and have it mean something, but she quickly stopped when the song changed.

“Oh-em-gee, this is my favorite song ever!” The squealing drowned out the music better than the water ever could have, a feat that had seemed impossible until it actually happened, and soon after Sierra's voice could be heard singing along once more. For the next four or five songs, all that Heather heard of them was the music and Sierra's voice, and it was enjoyable enough that she didn't bother moving from her spot, her bed being a perfect place to laugh about the singing.

When another small wave of pain overcame her, she was initially too busy laughing to notice it, but once she did realize that she was hurting once again, a sense of panic began to take hold. “Ha, this is the best joke ever!” she told herself, trying not to think about the reality of the situation. “I think I'm psyching myself out or something. What Sierra said earlier must have gotten to me. There is no way I'm having this kid here in Hawaii. No way at all.”

But as the time when they were supposed to head back over to the arena came closer, all of which was spent with Sierra still jamming out to her music while readying herself for cheering at the tournament, things started to progress even more than they already had. The little waves of pain weren't necessarily coming frequently, but they were starting to become more intense, and once they got to the point that she wasn't able to think while it was happening, that was when it was time to get Sierra involved. Getting from the bed over to the bathroom door was probably the fastest that she'd moved in a while, and once she started banging on the door and the music inside stopped, that was when everything became so real. “What do you need? I'm almost done, I swear!” Sierra said, opening the door a crack and letting some of the steam inside out. “Can it wait like five minutes? I've got to finish making my hair irresistible!”

“I don't think anyone's gonna care what it looks like, not where we're going,” was the reply Heather gave, pushing the door open a bit more. “Because you had to open your big mouth earlier and make this happen.”

“Make what happen? We're going to the tournament, and I'm gonna be so pretty that dearest Cody will have to take back what he said earlier and go on a date with me, even if he loses!”

“I don't know how to break this to you. Oh wait, yeah, I do. Remember earlier how you just sort of casually asked if we needed to somewhere that wasn't here?” She had to think for a moment, but when Sierra said that she did indeed remember that, Heather gave her a look that was almost imploring her to come up with the next logical thing on her own. There was no such luck, however, and so she had to supply the rest herself. “Well, guess what? Because of you, or because something out there really hates me, we _do_ need to go somewhere that isn't here!”

“Duh? I mean, we've got to go back and cheer for my Cody!” Still blissfully unaware of what was happening due to her fixation on someone who had rejected her so many times, Sierra attempted to close the bathroom door to finish preparing herself, but Heather's hands stopped her. “Why can't you just let me finish up, please? I'm really almost done.”

It wasn't her intention, but Heather managed to get Sierra to stop focusing on dolling herself up and instead to realize what else was going on with a loud scream that made the squealing from earlier in the afternoon sound like a whisper: “I'm about to have this fucking baby right here in this hotel room unless you stop worrying about how you look and get me anywhere but here!”

Sierra's reaction was to drop her hairbrush and start bouncing around, excitedly going on and on about how awesome it was that it was time for the baby—until it sank in that it meant she was now responsible for getting her friend somewhere proper for the birth of a child, and that meant there was no way she was going to be able to go to the tournament and see Cody, nor did it mean she was going to be able to give him his phone. That, of course, led to a problem of its own, that being how to explain to him why they weren't where they were supposed to be.

A quickly written note taped to his room's door had to suffice, and as quickly as they could go, which was not fast at all given the circumstances, they were on their way to the nearest hospital to their location.

* * *

The lights in the arena dimmed, everybody who was part of the first group of competition taking their places for play. When the games were called to begin, Cody couldn't help but look to the stands for his friends in the place they had been that morning, and he was shocked and very hurt when he saw neither of them sitting where they belonged.

He reached to his pocket for his phone, but remembered that he had left it in his room and Sierra was supposed to bring it for him. Which she hadn't, and without it, he had no way of seeing what was going on. Maybe they were running late. The shuttle system could have been overloaded with people trying to come and watch, after all. But after a few minutes and no sight of them, he had to go and see if he could find out what was the matter. “Is it okay if we delay this game a bit?” he asked the judge of the section he was playing in. “I think something might have happened to my guests. They were supposed to be here and they're not.”

“I am sorry, but your guests are not our concern,” the judge replied, looking coldly at him for still having not started playing his game. “You may either assess the situation after your game has concluded, or you can forfeit and assess it now. There is no way to delay the start any longer than you already have.”

If there was one thing in life that Cody wanted more than to become a billiards champion, it was to know that everything was okay with his friends, and if knowing they were fine would push back his achievement of that dream, that was how it would have to be. “Then I guess I forfeit, because they should be here and I know Sierra wouldn't be missing this for the world if it was her choice.” As the judge heard the declaration of forfeiting, that was the end of his stay in the tournament, which had lasted a grand total of five minutes. Much like he had suggested before, he was set to finish dead last, but it was just a consequence of knowing what was going on with people who mattered more than any win ever could.

It took getting over to the hotel and to his room to find out what had happened, and in his shock and worry that spawned from reading the note affixed to his door, he completely blanked on removing the note. What he did remember, though, was to run inside and grab his phone, before finding his own way over to his only guess as to where the women were.

* * *

It had been somewhat of an intense ride over to the nearest hospital, and strangely enough it was not because of anything that was happening to Heather, as Sierra had ended up freaking out more about everything than she ever could. “What if it happens right here? What if we can't get over there fast enough? I know a lot about things, but helping birth a child isn't one of those things! We would be totally screwed!”

“Calm down, genius. I thought you said you read those baby books at Gwen's place. Obviously if you had, you'd know that I was making things sound worse earlier to get you to take them seriously.” Aside from the moments of pain so strong she could barely keep herself from screaming, there wasn't much happening that would justify freaking out. “Besides, I'm pretty sure that this isn't even the real deal. I'm hoping that we get there, they look, they say that I'm just worrying about nothing, and then we go back.”

“I don't know, I did read those books and the way you start looking like you're about to cry when you start hurting makes me think that we're gonna be seeing a baby here real soon!” Even while she was in the middle of a freak-out, Sierra found the ability to squeal at a happy mention of the child. “I just wish we could have told Cody what was going on...”

“He'll find out when he comes looking for us. Not our fault that he left his phone at the hotel. He should have known something was going to happen. I mean, that's what Gwen kept telling us, but we didn't listen and maybe we should have.” Admitting that she was wrong about something was never a thing that Heather liked doing, so whenever she could admit it but also drag down others at the same time, she would do it. “Mostly because she'd be more of a help than you're being.”

“I'm being lots of help! I'm just worried that he won't find out and he'll miss it, and I know how mad you'd be if I'm the first one of your friends to see the baby.” Sierra sighed, calming herself down and looking dejectedly out the window. “Because I know how much you don't really like me, and...”

There would have been waterworks there in the backseat of the cab they were in, if it wasn't for Heather grabbing Sierra's arm and pulling her over to the other side of the seat. “Listen, I may not like you that much, but at least I like you a bit. That's more than most people can say, and it means a lot to me that you're here instead of some stranger. Yeah, okay, maybe I would like it more if someone who hasn't betrayed me was here, but I'll take what I can get.”

“So you're saying you don't hate me?” Sierra's spirits rose a bit as she asked, hoping for a positive answer.

“Nope, I don't hate you.”

That was the answer she had wanted, and she squealed in response, stomping her feet on the floor of the car as she did. “Does this mean that you'll let me see the baby first?”

“No promises, but if you're the only friend around, yes.” It was something she hoped she wouldn't have to regret saying, because she really did hope that Cody would be there so that, if anything, it could be both of them seeing her at the same time, and there would be less of a chance of Sierra making posts gushing about the moment if there was someone accompanying her. As luck would have it, he would be there long before there was even a realistic chance of the baby's arrival, coming into a bright and sterile hospital room with worry in his eyes and his body shaking with nerves. When he came in, both women expressed their happiness that he had made it, but while Sierra did so by grabbing him and hugging him, Heather did it by making a comment that called back to the one she had said earlier: “Oh, well, look at that. Looks like you're not the only friend around after all, Sierra.”

She didn't seem to mind, still hugging Cody tightly when she replied with, “that's okay, because my Codykins is here!” Then she abruptly let go of him, her eyes looking to the clock on the wall. “I don't know why he's here though, because it's too early for him to be done playing for the night! Did something happen?”

“Something sure did happen, and that was you two not being in the stands for me, and no matter how much winning that would have meant, I wasn't going to play while I didn't know where you two were.” He scuffed the floor a bit with his shoe, as the two ladies shared a glance between them while they realized that he must have quit playing just to come find them. When asked about it, he shrugged it off. “There's always the next time they want to include me for me to try again. Today, though, there's something way more important for me to be doing.”

“That being what, sitting around waiting for something to happen here?” Heather gave a small laugh. “You'd be having more fun getting your ass kicked at pool than being here, I'm sure.”

He raised his eyebrows at her. “Are you saying you don't want me around?”

“No, she's saying that nothing's gonna happen tonight.” Having exhausted what remained of her excitement, Sierra collapsed into one of the chairs in the room. “We're only gonna stay here because it's better to stay here than be back at the hotel. At least if we're here and something happens, she's got someone to ask for help that isn't me. I'm no good at being moral support.”

Still not completely sure about what that meant, Cody knew he had to turn to the source and get the story from her. “So you want me around, but we have to be here?”

“You guys don't have to be here, by any means. And I'm totally okay with you deciding you want to go back and sleep in comfortable beds, if that's how it has to happen. I'm just stuck here because they don't want anything happening at the hotel or on the ride back over here.” She laughed again, before giving a deep sigh. “It sucks though, because this,” she patted the hospital bed she was reclining on, “is not the most relaxing of places to be right now, and I'd really like to be somewhere I could maybe sleep if I wanted to.”

“If this is for the best, then I guess you'll have to deal with it. Sorry.” He frowned, pulling a chair over to the side of the bed and sitting down next to it. “At least you have us for company.”

She looked to him and gave him a smile. “Yeah, there's that. One positive in all of this.”

* * *

There was a note attached to the door of one of the rooms Gwen had given him the number for, and even in the tired state he was in from having very recently gotten off the plane and over to this hotel, Alejandro knew that it had to mean something. He could recognize Sierra's handwriting from far away, and if she was putting a note up, there was some reason behind it that could not be ignored. But he was just tired enough to not be able to make sense of the scribbles on the paper, and so he took it from where it had been taped and decided that it would be for the best if he waited until after he had gotten some sort of rest before he tried to decipher it.

However, that plan went straight to pieces after he reported the status of his mission back to Gwen, who first wanted proof that there was a note, then she wanted to know what it said. “I really think it would be best if I waited until morning to tell you that,” he explained, holding his phone to his ear with one hand while holding the paper in the other. “Sometimes when Sierra writes things, it is impossible to understand them without deep thought, which I do not think I would properly be able to do at this point.”

“I get it, it's a long day of flying to get out there, but come on. You want Heather back, don't you? Because either that note you've got will tell you something about her, or it's just useless and you'll have to go back there in the morning. What time is it there, anyway? Like midnight, right?” Gwen sounded tired, because of the large difference in times between her location in Canada and where Alejandro was now in Hawaii, but she had been woken up by him calling to tell her the information, and he had not gotten the chance to sleep on the plane due to all the possibilities of what could be waiting for him in this island paradise. So when he told her that it was indeed that late, she changed her mind about what he should do. “Okay, maybe you can wait and figure all this out later. Don't want you jumping to conclusions about things.”

“I highly doubt this is of any interest to me, anyway. It is addressed to Cody, and we both know that means it most likely is a love letter of some sort. I will let you know what it means when I find out, regardless of it is helpful or not.” He hung up not long after that, and was ready to get a room of his own in that hotel when he noticed a string of words he hadn't even tried to pick out of the letter before. It wasn't anything too shocking, just that they weren't going to make it to the tournament, and while he could easily guess who “they” was referring to, he wasn't going to find the reason behind why they wouldn't be there when he could barely see straight at that point.

A few hours later, after not only getting himself a room at the same hotel the others were staying at but one on the same floor as them, as well as getting some well-deserved sleep, he was woken up by his phone ringing constantly. It wasn't for a call but rather a string of messages—and when he looked at them, it was apparent that they were sent under the assumption that he would have had his phone silenced for the night. They were from Gwen, and aside from the first message, they were all forwards from someone else, but reading the first message made him curious as to what the others said.

“I know you're asleep,” the message read, “and that this is me being a traitor to my friends, but you have a right to know this when you wake up. Whatever that note said isn't relevant anymore, because now I've got word from one of the others about what's happening.” He was still incredibly tired, having only gotten a few hours of sleep, but the curiosity got the better of him and he had to see what word she had been sent that she felt he needed to see.

The forwards were all timestamped and had who sent them in the message, so if this was some sort of prank that Gwen was pulling to make him look and feel like a fool, it was definitely an elaborate one. After he woke up a bit more he embarked on the journey of reading the list of messages, but after two he was about to jump out of bed and find wherever it was that these were being sent from. Now there wasn't much that would ever make Alejandro want to pass up the opportunity to get some beauty sleep, but this was one thing that he would gladly do that for. He sent Gwen a message telling her that she had woken him up with her texts, but that he was okay with that and would be acting on what she had sent.

By the time she had responded telling him that it might not be the best idea to do that at such an early hour, he was already on his way out of the room. He couldn't just sit around and do nothing when he had the knowledge that the time of his precious child coming into the world was drawing near, even though he wasn't supposed to know that.

* * *

The decision to tell Gwen what was happening was a joint decision by all three people in the hospital room, because even though she would be angry to know that she wasn't going to be present, it was also going to give her the opportunity to rub it in their faces that she was right all along. That didn't happen, and while she did express some anger that she wasn't there, she made no comments on her being right and them being wrong. In fact, she seemed perfectly content with the fact that they had gotten what was coming to them. She did make it clear that she did want constant updates due to her being so far away, but that was all she said on the matter.

“You'd think she'd want to make us feel bad for being here,” Cody commented, as he typed out a message that answered the somewhat pointed question of where they were, room numbers and all. “But no, all she's doing is wanting to know where we are. I think she might be planning something.”

“Probably flowers and balloons and stuff!” Sierra put her hands on her jaw line and squealed. “For the pretty princess!”

“That doesn't sound like something she would think of doing though, not after what we did to get here.” He sighed, regretting those past decisions for a moment before reading the next message he received. “She's asking why I'm the one telling her everything instead of who logically would have let her know. Should I tell her?”

“Yes, and tell her to send flowers!” Almost falling out of her seat from the force of her excitement, Sierra had to catch herself and laughed once she had. “Or tell her that it's because a certain someone threw her phone and broke it.”

Cody looked from his phone's screen over to the shattered one sitting on the table closest to the bed in the room. “Yeah, we're not going to tell her that. It would probably make her even more angry that she can't get anything straight from the source.”

“To be fair, I threw it because I didn't want that guy anywhere near my bits, thank you very much.” Even though she had broken her phone for the sake of getting a male doctor out of the room, there was no regret in Heather's voice. “It got me my way, and it was totally worth it.”

“You mean, totally worth making me and Sierra have to field all questions about what's happening. Right.” He yawned, the late hour starting to hit him hard. “What if we're asleep back at the hotel and something happens?”

“I have an easy solution to that. You don't go back, and just sleep here. Keep me company all night.” She was still speaking with her prideful tone, which slightly annoyed her friends. They had both attempted, and planned on doing, what she had suggested, but the problem with it was that, even with the level of exhaustion they both were at, the chairs in the room were too uncomfortable to actually sleep in.

There was nothing stopping Cody from pointing that out, either. “You haven't tried sleeping in any of these chairs, so you have no idea how much it would suck to have to do it. Besides, everyone said that nothing's going to happen for at least a few hours, so there would be no harm in us going. We'd be back before lunch, promise.”

“No, I don't want you guys to go. If you're here, there's someone to stop me from hurting anyone who gets close to me that I don't like. If you're gone, then I might actually manage to hurt someone. We don't want that, do we?” It wasn't something they wanted, but with how tired they were, both of them not having had the luxury of several naps over the course of the previous day, they really didn't care if it happened or not. When Sierra said that she'd be more interested in hearing the story of someone being kicked over having to stay up any longer in the chair she was in, it elicited an angered sound from Heather. “Okay, fine, go. Whatever. I see how it is.”

“It'll be fine without us here. You're like the strongest woman I've ever met, and you can handle this for a few hours without us around.” Cody came closer to the bed and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder, but she pushed it off. “Or you can act like a spoiled kid and throw a fit that we're tired and need to sleep.”

“It's not fair that you guys can go and sleep and I have to stay here and if I try to sleep you know that's when something's going to happen and I'll either be screaming in pain or there will be someone checking on me and...” Her voice trailed off as she realized neither other person in the room was listening to her. “This is what I get for coming with you, isn't it?”

Sierra, standing up to prevent herself from falling out of the chair again, gave a small nod. “I wouldn't say that it is, but if we were back home and this was happening in that cool place that you had found, with the pool in the room, then we wouldn't be wanting to leave. That place had a couch and a couch would be nice right about now.” Her yawning sealed the deal of them leaving, much to the displeasure of the person they were leaving behind, but the actual act of going back to the hotel didn't happen until two contractions, one quick visit by the overnight nurse on the floor, and another argument about staying or going that had the same end.

Naturally, however, once the sun was beginning to peek out over the horizon and early morning light was coming in through the window in the room, that was when it was finally settled that they'd go back for just a few hours of sleep. A ride had already been arranged and after goodbyes and promises that they would return before lunch, like Cody had said way before, they were on their way down to where a shuttle was waiting for them. Or, at least, that had been what the plan was, until someone walked right past them down the hall, headed the way they had just come from, and Sierra, even with how tired she was, noticed who it was. “Um, Codykins, either I'm imagining things, I'm dreaming, or that was Alejandro who just went past us.”

“Wait, what?” He turned to look, and simply based on what he could see, it looked like what she had said was indeed true. “You've got to be kidding. How did he know we were here?” He hesitated for a second, looking at Sierra, who shrugged. “We can't just let him _go_ like that if it is him. Come on, let's go see what's up.”

They turned back and quickly caught up to the other man, as he wasn't sure where he was going and they knew where they had been. “Hey, Al!” Sierra chirped, getting his attention, and once she had it she made a swing for him, trying to replicate the damage she had done to his face the last time they had met.

“Oh dear, I was not aware that you two were out here,” he said as he dodged the fist coming for him. “Surely you know better than to cause a scene out in the open like this.”

“We do, but that's not relevant when you shouldn't know where we are!” Having made sure he was really seeing who was before him, Cody reached for his phone to tell Gwen about what was unfolding, but he was stopped when Alejandro pulled his own phone out and held it in front of Cody's face, showing him the copies of every message he had sent Gwen earlier in the night. “How did you get those? I sent those to someone I trust!”

“And she sent them to me, as I am here to do something for her. Is there going to be any more of a problem here, or shall we call Gwen and have her explain the details?” He pocketed his phone once more and began to walk away, trying to find the room that he had been told to go to, but he was quickly stopped by the others grabbing him and preventing him from moving any further. “I can tell that you two really do not want me here, but I can say with complete certainty that I am wanted here by someone.”

“Who, yourself?” Cody asked, trying to pull him back, if even a little bit. “Because I know Gwen, and she would never tell you to come here. Ever.”

“Except she did, as she was unable to and had no desire to. From what she explained, she was so put off by your disobedience of her one simple request that she did not care that she was sending me to fill a role she had wanted to play. Someone that is not either of you had to be present for this, and that someone is going to be me.” He attempted to get his arms out of their grasp, but both of them were holding him so tightly that he couldn't do it and not hurt someone in the process. “Now please, let me continue on so that I can see the woman I love.”

Perhaps it was how tired she was, or maybe it was because she remember how much she had tried to help this man in the past, but the last impassioned plea made Sierra let go of the arm she was holding. “I can't stop him, Codykins. He really loves her, and this is so totally the most romantic thing he could do for her.”

“Sierra, you're supposed to protect your friends, not help their creepy and controlling exes!” Now holding on to someone much stronger than him, and losing the battle of holding him in one spot, Cody looked to Sierra and gave her the most pleading look he could. “Please, do this for me. Not for anyone else. Help me stop him, so that we're protecting someone who needs it.”

“I can't. I just can't!” Her lower lip jutted out and she looked like she was about to cry. “The whole time, through everything, all he's wanted is to love her, and it's just wrong of me to stop him any longer! I shouldn't have pointed out that he was here!” That was when the tears started falling, coupled with apologetic sobs about how much she regretted ever trying to hurt him as well as how much she wished she could have done better on getting him back with who he wanted.

He was starting to drag Cody along as he continued on with his search for the room he needed, although he had listened to what Sierra had said and did appreciate it. “I understand, you wanted to please who you love and that meant hurting me, but everything is okay now! Thanks to all of you, I am getting this chance and I am not going to let it go to waste!” There was happiness in his voice, and when he continued it was clear that he was not going to let anything tear his soaring spirit down. “When I heard that Courtney had attacked Gwen at that meeting we had set up, I never thought that going to apologize for my role in everything would give me the chance to see my precious Heather again, but it did and I am not ruining this like the last chance I had!”

“You had something to do with her getting hurt? Both of you?” Cody looked back to Sierra, and when she nodded and started crying more, it was enough of a surprise and a shock to get him to let go of the arm he was desperately clinging to. “Oh my god, really? You're the reason she got attacked?”

“Not the reason, but I did want her to see Duncan...”

“No, you're kidding!” He fully turned to her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit. “You're telling me that you're behind her meeting up with someone I hate, and you're behind her getting hurt—“ he shook her a bit more, “—and you're still siding with fucking Alejandro over someone who we've been trying to keep from him for months?”

She nodded again, but was unable to find words through her tears, the feelings of her betrayal coming back at her full force. Accepting the truth, that all along, no matter how happy she had been about the baby, she wasn't on the side of the mother at all, wasn't going to make anything easier for her, but it was good for it to be out in the open. Even though it made Cody absolutely speechless and unsure of how to handle the situation except to stand there and just stare at her in disbelief, it was for the best how it happened. Aside from the part where her emotional response was enough of a distraction to let Alejandro slip away and eventually find the place he had been sent that he so badly wanted to be.

The sound of someone opening the door didn't bother Heather, and because she had heard so many people come in and out of it she didn't so much as open her eyes to see who had come in, knowing that they'd soon enough do something to alert her to their identity. She heard the footsteps approach the bed, then the chair move close enough that it was pressed against the bedframe, and finally them sit down in it and grab her hand. “Okay, I finally accepted the fact that you're abandoning me for the night. Don't do this to me.”

“Who said I was going to abandon you?” The way he spoke was soft, not wanting to alarm her, but just the sound of his voice made her open her eyes and immediately narrow them in his direction, tugging her hand away from him. “This is where I belong, for this moment.”

“How the fuck did you know I was here? I thought I was going to be free of you ever finding me, and now that I know you're here, I'm going to call for someone to get rid of you.” Before she got the chance to press the call button for someone to check up on her, he stood up, leaned over her, and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Ew, why are you doing this? You know I hate you.”

“If you truly hated me, you would not have let things progress this far, and we are both aware of that. Why would you have ruined yourself for something that you did not want?” He kissed her again, before sitting back down as she muttered something about how wrong he was. “Oh, I am wrong? Tell me, _mi amor_ , how exactly I am wrong.”

She became silent for a moment, in which her eyes closed again and she sighed. “You're not wrong. Except you are at the same time. I don't hate you, but I don't love you, but I did love you and that's why we're here. Because I loved you.”

“Because you loved me, and I have always loved you, since the first time we angrily flirted with each other on live television.” Against her will, he grabbed her hand again and squeezed it tightly, just for her to squeeze it even harder back. “Now please let me remain here and let me be present when the last bond between us makes her presence into this ugly world, and after that I will leave you alone. Just give me this one thing.”

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he got a response, the entire time in between spent with his hand nearly being ripped off due it it being squeezed so hard. That response, when it did come, was said in a weak voice, one that was small and so unlike the proud one she had been speaking with not long before. “I'll give you this one thing if you promise you won't leave me alone forever. I don't want to be with you, but I can't lose you. Not after this.”

“You are acting much differently than you have the past few months. The last time we spoke, you gave me a moment of tenderness then told me you wanted nothing to do with me at all.” His mind went back to that last conversation of theirs, in that hotel room in Vegas. “You gave me what I feared would be my only taste of fatherhood, and then told me that my child, no, _our_ child, would never know me.”

“I've done some thinking about that, and even if we aren't together it doesn't mean she should have to suffer because of it. She should know you just as well as she knows me, since you are the reason she's around and all.” She weakly laughed. “Or, at least half of the reason.”

“Is this me hearing you admit that you do indeed have part in this?” It was a teasing question, one that got another laugh in response. “Wait, that was one of the dumbest things I have ever said. No one could dare deny the fact that you have a very big part in all of this, and I am shamed for so much as suggesting you did not.”

She gave his hand a soft squeeze and he winced, as she had already caused it to hurt with how much pressure she had put on it in a short time. “Don't worry about it. I got what you were meaning. Although yeah, it was pretty dumb to think I wasn't involved. I mean,” she turned her gaze from him to herself, focusing on her body and how it was covered with a run-of-the-mill hospital gown, “I'm kinda the one in this situation because of what we did. Which, even after everything that's happened, I don't regret suggesting it at all.”

“Oh, is that so? Because, if given the chance, I would gladly do that again with you. Complete with you dressing in an old school uniform and talking to me with authority and...” He shook his head. “I should not be letting my mind wander back onto old adventures of ours right now, no matter how relevant they are to why we are here. Those were in a different time in our life, when we were happy and in love.”

“More like, it was a different time when you weren't so controlling that you drove me away. If you had stepped back and realized that I have every right to be as dominant as you, then we would've remained in love and there would be no problems.” Looking back to him, Heather sighed. “But nope, you ruined everything and figured that you could fix it by trying to force me back with you.”

It was a minute or two before Alejandro found the words to reply to that with, and against his better judgment—not to mention what he had been told before he ever left Canada—he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out that old and familiar ring. “I was warned not to bring this up when I came here, but based on what you have said, I feel it is only fitting that I say it now. I never forced you to be with me, you chose to agree to my proposal, and although you later rejected me because of what I felt was best for us, I still did not give up on you.” He held the ring tightly, not wanting to let go of it. “And I never want to give up on you, although you have given up on me.”

“Hold on, just a second. You're telling me that you're so lovestruck by me that you're still carrying around that damn ring?” She sounded surprised, her eyes widening as she asked.

“Yes, that is exactly it. That, and the fact that before things went sour between us, we had so many great things planned. We were going to have a grand wedding, going to have a perfect child to raise together, and everything would be okay. But now, all that there will be is that child, and even then she will be split between us.” The ring went back into his pocket, as where they were was far from the place to do anything with it. “It is a tragic tale, but it is how it will be.”

“You know that, if you hadn't kept trying to force me into agreeing to marry you while I'd still look like a dolled-up pig, maybe we would have still had everything you wanted.” It was her turn to shake her head, sad about what she had just said. “Well, more like, everything we wanted.”

While there was not much use to him saying what he was about to, Alejandro still felt like he was obligated to say it: “Even if we had decided to go through with that wedding with you in this physical state, you would have been far from looking like a pig. You would have been the beautiful woman who not only holds claim to my heart, but who holds my child as well.”

“Ugh, thankfully not for much longer, on that second part,” she replied, actually smiling at what he had said. “I can't say I'm looking forward to having to push out a kid that's bound to have your dumb broad shoulders and your big, fat head, but it's going to be worth it.” As she had talked, her smile had faded until she was back to a neutral expression. “I think I'm glad you're here. It wouldn't have been fair if you weren't present for her being born.”

“If I had not been here, I would have understood. You feel that having her not know me is what is best for her, remember?”

“I've changed my mind about that. I mean, you're capable of having a conversation with me without actively trying to hook back up with me, so maybe you won't be too bad of a father.” That was when she started to grab at his hand again, her face having gone from that neutral expression to one of suffering.

By no means was that what segued into the actual childbirth, only being one in what was a day filled with strong contractions like that one, but it followed something that, ever since that night in Vegas where he had first felt the baby kicking, Alejandro had really wanted to hear. He wanted to know that he wouldn't be terrible at something he had resigned himself to not being able to do, no matter how much he had prepared himself to do it. Those particular preparations were something he talked about to pass the time at some point in the early afternoon, after the other two people meant to be present had come back from their rest, both of them unsure of how to act not only around each other but the man in the room with them.

His descriptions of the room, from the pink walls to the pristine white furniture, to all of the little clothing folded up in the dresser, showed his dedication to a child that he, up until earlier that day, thought he wasn't going to see. It was that dedication, coupled with the fact that he was the rightful father to the child, that convinced Heather to let him stay in the room when the time for lots of screaming, yelling, blaming, and pain came around. Throughout it all, even though he was not mentally prepared for what was happening, he was a comforting voice and an even more useful hand to hold.

The last thing he remembered doing before his life changed forever was not simply ignoring the feeling of bones in his hand being crushed. It was getting as close to Heather's face as he could, seeing it all contorted from the pain and suffering she was experiencing, and softly telling her, first in Spanish and then in English so that she would understand, that he was so proud of her, that she was doing great, and that, most of all, he loved her so very much. The last point was what he repeated, in both languages, over and over until it was as if time stood still for a second and everything became silent.

Then a piercing wail, a noise he had never heard in such a setting before, filled the air. That was the last thing he could remember for a few minutes, the next event he could clearly picture in his mind being when one of the doctors who had been present placed a wrapped-up bundle carefully in his love's arms, and he could do nothing but sit there and stare at how unreal what he was seeing was. Just from what he could see, there was no denying that the little girl was his; she had definitely inherited most of his facial features, the lone obvious exception being her mouth, which was a perfect little pout just like her mother's. He was enamored with her and he could only hope that she would love him just as much back, someday.

Right then it wasn't his time to be with her though, and he had to respect that—until she was tilted a bit in his direction and a very tired and worn out voice asked him if he would like to hold her, which he instantly said he did. Holding a baby was something he had dreamed of and never practiced, but once he got her into a position that he felt comfortable with, the amount of love he had felt for this little human before he had gotten to hold her multiplied several times. Being able to look down into her tiny face and see how much like him she looked was an amazing experience, and as she seemed to be asleep at the moment, he wondered if she looked even more like him when awake.

“She's perfect, huh?” It was that worn out voice again, and he drew his eyes away from the baby just long enough to see Heather giving him a weary smile. “We did good, Alejandro. We made something that doesn't look like she's going to kill us anytime soon.”

Hearing himself be included made him give her a huge grin in return. “She will never kill anyone, as she will be too good for that. We did excellent with her, _mi amor_ , and I am so, so glad I could be here for this...”

“Shut up and don't get too sappy, and hand her back, will you? I want to hold her again.” No matter how exhausted she was, there was no stopping her from being the bossy woman she always had been, and although it saddened him to give her back, he knew it was only fair.

This baby was the only bond holding them together, after all.

* * *

“I can't believe how cute she is! Oh my gosh I wish I could have been the first to see her, but I totally understand that others got to do that before me!” Sierra, back in her seat from the night before, had not stopped gushing about the baby since she had gotten to see her, and this particular outburst was maybe the fourth in the past few hours of similar nature. “I'm so thankful someone was taking pictures though!”

“Yeah, you've said that several times now,” Cody grumbled, finally starting to reach a breaking point to the squealing and excitement. “Maybe we should go and let you deal with all this excitement elsewhere. I'm sure the new parents would like to get some time to themselves, or maybe just time without you around.” She wasn't offended in the slightest about the suggestion and they soon left, but not before promises were made that the only person who wasn't present who got to know was Gwen, who coincidentally was the reason any pictures at all had been taken, as she would most likely want to see them.

Once those two were gone, it was just Heather and Alejandro left alone in the room, silence between the two of them. It was only broken when she sighed, and he asked what was wrong. “Nothing's wrong, not really,” she answered, trying not to look at him. “I'm just thinking about how to ask this, that's all.”

“Oh, well, I do believe I have something to ask you as well, so would it be of any help if we asked at the same time? Or would that be a problem?” His suggestion worked for her, and after a silent count to three done on their fingers, they simultaneously asked their questions; he was under the impression that she was going to ask him to leave, and she was sure that he was going to attempt to propose to her again, so it came as a surprise to them both when the same words came out of both of their mouths: “Is it okay if we name her Isabel?”

She was first to laugh about the coincidence. “How funny, we both came up with the same name for her. Let me guess, because it's Spanish royalty, right?”

“Exactly that. I assumed you would want to go that route, with how you lovingly referred to her as your princess and all, and I am pleased that my assumption was correct.” He laughed as well, but stopped after only a few chuckles escaped. “Alas, did my opinion ever really matter?”

“I wouldn't have asked you if it didn't.” That was where their conversation stopped for a while, and the silence returned between them once more. But like before, she was the one who broke it with yet another sigh, followed with, “I don't want to raise her alone.”

“You have friends to help you out. I am certain Sierra would be thrilled if you asked her to help.”

“I thought I wanted my friends to help with her, but now that we've spent this time together, I've been thinking a bit about maybe...” She trailed off, looking to him while shaking her head. “I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but maybe we could raise her together. Not be together, but raise her like we were.”

It wasn't what he wanted to hear, because he still loved her more than anything and getting back with her was his main goal of ever coming out to Hawaii, but it was something that he wouldn't have had if he hadn't come. “And whatever happens between us while we do this, well, I am sure it would be stronger than whatever a week on vacation did.”

“Yeah, something like that.” The smile she gave him was genuine, because he had taken her suggestion the way she had hoped. There were still two sides to her, and both the rational and romantic parts wanted to be with him, although for different reasons. The rational side wanted him as a partner in raising their little girl, not in a relationship with him but just together for the sake of giving their baby a real home. But the romantic side, it wanted to get back with him, to take that ring from in his pocket and flaunt it around and eventually get married to him to have a real family life with him. There was no denying that she loved him as much as he loved her, but she couldn't let love be a game to her anymore, and it couldn't be one to him either. There was more to worry about than just being in love, and while there was no stopping whatever would follow, it was clear that to make anything work, things would have to change.

But in the few hours since little Isabel had been born, though, everything already _had_ changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. I wish I could say that it was happier, but it's open-ended for a reason. You, the reader, who has followed the journey from the beginning to this point, you get to imagine what happens next. I felt it would be wrong of me to slap an ending that I felt fitting on this, when there's so many ways you could take this in your own mind. So take it how you want. I'd love to hear where you think it should go.  
> I have to thank my editor-slash-moral support-slash-boyfriend kamikaze2007 for all of his help with this fic, because holy shit he went through so much for the sake of this fic. He was my rock at 3am when I didn't want to write, he listened to me gripe on and on about how writing was going, and he found every missing letter that my keyboard dropped as I was writing. Without him, this wouldn't be as polished as I'm sure it is. (I wouldn't actually know if it's polished--I still haven't read it yet!)  
> I also have to thank elephant_bubbles for all her reviews and moral support through the writing process! She was there for me when I had character feels, for all my late night text messages about events, and she was as excited as I was when I got to the end of this thing, thus ending the days-long "baby watch" we had started!  
> Lastly, I just want to thank everyone who will read this note here, because you've taken the time to read a fic that took 86 days (ish) to write, a fic that consumed my life for every day I worked on it. You made my effort worth something, and it means the world to me. Thank you so, so much.


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